“Domestic violence invades the workplace: Why ILO C190 is needed in the time of Covid-19”, 06 April 2020

As millions of people work from home or are staying home because of job loss, a new outbreak is growing -- domestic violence…

… China … saw a threefold increase in cases of domestic violence reported … [C]ountries such as France saw increases of 32% in one week while in the UK, domestic abuse calls are up 25% since the start of the lockdown. In Turkey alone, March saw the deaths of 29 women by men …

On a local and national level, unions must … help their members by providing information and support to those suffering domestic abuse. Globally, the relevance of tools such as Convention 190 and Recommendation 206 is stronger than ever.

[Per] article 18 of Recommendation 206 in relation to article 10 of Convention 190, appropriate measures to mitigate the impacts of domestic violence in the world of work could include:... temporary protection against dismissal for victims of domestic violence... the inclusion of domestic violence in workplace risk assessments... a referral system to public mitigation measures for domestic violence, where they exist; and awareness-raising about the effects of domestic violence.

“These are essential tools for unions. They allow us to protect our workers throughout the workplace -- whether that workplace is their living room, their office or a shop,” said... UNI Equal Opportunities...