GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s labor agency has adopted its first convention specifically aimed at reducing violence and harassment in the workplace, with its chief crediting a recent boost from the #MeToo movement.
Delegates exchanged hugs, applauded and whooped in a U.N. conference hall after the International Labor Organization overwhelmingly passed the resolution, some four years in the making.
The ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment was adopted 439-7 with 30 abstentions, a top achievement of the ILO’s centennial assembly ending Friday. The agency unites businesses, labor groups and 187 member states.
Delegates failed to include language about harassment and violence against LGBT people.
ILO Director-General Guy Ryder said #MeToo had accentuated the “momentum and significance” of the push to adopt the convention.
Countries will now decide whether to ratify it.
