Labor union representatives who completed a three-day workshop on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment at the Workplace, welcomed the ratification of Convention 190, which ensures zero tolerance for violence and harassment at the workplace.
Namibia became the first country in the world to start the process of ratifying Convention 190 of the International Labour Organization in 2020.
The Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation is conducting the workshops with stakeholders.
The union representatives who took part in the workshop are now certified change agents, tasked with spreading awareness about the negative impacts of violence and harassment in the workplace.
"To go back not only to educate our members but to educate the whole working class, so that we can work on this problem and make sure that we ride out the evils that are within our working environments so that they can be healthier and more conducive because we spend so much time at work and you need to be in a very good space when you are within your working environment," said Astrid Sauerwein, the southern regional chairperson of the Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU).
"This is an eye-opener; I have met colleagues and shared ideas. It has brought me so much insight that I have learned a lot, which is something that I can really go share," said Ellis Swartbooi, representing the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) in the southern regions.
It was highlighted that violence and harassment can be very subtle, but it is still violence and harassment if it harms you emotionally, economically, physically, or because of your gender.
"It's important to open up and just communicate; if somebody has wronged you, please communicate before it gets out of hand because, in most cases, we are not aware that we are harassing somebody or crossing social boundaries," Ndeshi Nghushekwa from the Public Service Union of Namibia said.
The International Labour Organisation states that "each member state that ratifies this Convention shall respect, promote, and realize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment."
Jackson Izaks, a representative of the Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN), said that "violence and harassment at workplaces all over are too much and too little is being done, as we all can see, simply because most people are not educated on it, even the educated people are not educated on that."
Nations that have ratified the Convention shall adopt an inclusive, integrated, and gender-responsive approach to the prevention and elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.