Workshop on Sexual Harassment at Workplace

T he National Human Rights Commission organized a day long workshop on 'Sexual Harassment at Workplace' at its premises in New Delhi on the 28th March, 2018. Mrs Jyotika Kalra, Member, NHRC Chaired the workshop. She drew attention towards the declining trend in participation of women in the work force in India over the last decade as per the data from International Labour Organization. One of the reasons, she felt, behind this trend was the concern related to their safety at workplace.
Ms. Swati Maliwal, Chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), expressed her concern about the increasing cases of sexual violence against women/girls. She apprised the participants that in the universities in Delhi either there is no Internal Complaints Committee, ICC, or if there is one, it does not have any external member, as required. The Members of the Committee are also not trained to deal with the complaints of sexual harassment.
Earlier, initiating the discussions, Mr. Ambuj Sharma, Secretary General, NHRC observed that going by the data from the National Crime Records Bureau, NCRB, it appears that the women are not reporting about the sexual harassment cases at workplace. He added that the need of the hour is to involve State Human Rights Commissions in these matters and hold regional as well as national level meetings to come up with an action plan. Further, it is also necessary to involve the private sector to ensure that the top companies set up Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).
Some of the notable observations of the participants were: Women victims hesitate in reporting sexual harassment by superiors at workplaces fearing repercussions; There is poor compliance of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and redressal) Act, 2013 by the employers; There is no monitoring of the redressal mechanism under the Act, which calls for penalty on the employer not constituting Internal Complaints Committee or implementing the other provisions.
The participants included senior officials from NHRC, the governments of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and UT of Chandigarh, Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA), academicians and civil society organizations.