Republished by Ilo.org

Twice a week, training specialist, Rania Shanti, visits a garment factory in the industrial city of Sahab, Jordan, and talks to small groups of workers about sexual harassment.

She tries to create a comfortable and – crucially – confidential atmosphere that will encourage participants to speak freely.

One of them is Indrani, a Sri Lankan woman who has worked at the factory since 2009.

“I always thought that when women spoke about being sexually harassed, they meant they were raped. Now I understand that sexual harassment can take place in many different forms,” she says.

Like Indrani, many of the workers at the factory are foreigners – mainly from Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. So, Shanti, from the ILO’s Better Work Jordan programme, often has to communicate through a translator.

“It’s difficult to assess sexual harassment in these factories due to the sensitive nature of the issue and fears of reprisals among workers. It’s never guaranteed that the workers will label themselves as being victims of sexual harassment,” she explains.

Two years ago, allegations were made of widespread rape being committed against workers at one of Jordan’s largest clothing factories. Although the allegations were not substantiated, reports of unwanted sexual advances towards workers are common across the global garment manufacturing sector.

Better Work Jordan’s own investigation found that many workers had very little understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment – even though they were concerned about it.

As a result, Better Work Jordan launched a pilot sexual harassment prevention awareness project with Indrani’s employer, the Jerash Garment and Fashion Manufacturing Company, which aims to teach line workers, managers and supervisors about how to identify, prevent and report instances of sexual harassment.

During one session held in mid-June, Indrani joined a group of shy and soft-spoken women, who told fellow workers about being groped, having their skirts lifted and even being sexually assaulted by taxi drivers.

Priyadorshani, another Sri Lankan worker at the factory, said the project helped them better understand Jordanian laws and regulations relating to sexual harassment in the workplace.

“We are foreigners in Jordan, so we do not know much about the laws, rules and procedures,” she said. “After the training, I now have a better idea of how to deal with the situation if something happens.”

Shanti notes that while some relevant laws exist, the most powerful and effective policies are those created and adopted internally by the factories, which address all forms of sexual harassment.

“Part of the training is to help the factories create their own policy on sexual harassment prevention. We share our model policy, which they can adapt,” she explains. “This has had a great impact on the factory’s management, as it has given them a great sense of responsibility where they now feel that they are in charge of the situation and can take control.”

Sanil Kumar, the company’s compliance officer, agrees.

“The training helped the managers and supervisors on issues which they were not aware of before, such as certain forms of sexual harassment and how to prevent it or deal with it. And following advice from the Better Work team, we have developed our own internal sexual harassment prevention policy for the factory which has been adopted by the management.”

Unions are also trying to play a role says Mervat Abdel Kareem al-Jamhawi, of the General Trade Union of Workers in Textile, Garment and Clothing.

“We try to raise awareness of the issues among female workers in factories but there are many challenges, such as cultural and language barriers. It is definitely a high priority for us and we need more support from projects like Better Work Jordan to conduct more programmes in a range of factories.”

Better Work Jordan plans to help create independent counseling and referral systems for workers who feel sexually harassed or under threat. The pilot project will also extend to several other factories next year – some of which employ up to 7,000 workers from as many as eight countries.

“We will continue with our training,” says Shanti. “We will continue to spread our message, especially to migrant workers, by telling them that they are not victims, they are not weak. They have come from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and other parts of the world to work here, so they must be strong women,” she said. “They need to know that there are actions that can be taken. If they don’t want to talk to their managers about sexual harassment, they can talk to us.”

The report was produced by the Verma Committee, which was named after former Chief Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma and set up in the wake of the death of a 23-year-old woman whose gang-rape in New Delhi last month sparked nationwide protests.

“This report and its far-reaching recommendations are not only a tribute to the brave young woman who was raped and murdered five weeks ago, but to all victims of sexual violence and assault in India,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“It is also a testament to the power of the young women and men of India, and the broader civil society, who have joined hands across the nation to say ‘Enough is Enough’.”

Pillay saluted Justice Verma and the Committee on producing a thorough report so quickly, and for involving women’s groups and civil society so fully in the process.

The report recommends a number of far-reaching changes, including punishment for marital rape, domestic rape and rape in same-sex relationships; requiring police officers to register every case of reported rape and ensuring that those who fail to do so face serious repercussions; ensuring accountability of police or armed forces personnel for sexual violence; and punishing offences such as stalking and voyeurism with prison terms.

Pillay praised the report for eschewing the death penalty and any lowering of the age of juvenile perpetrators, opting instead for heavy prison sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment.

The report also calls for a change in the way rape victims are treated by changing the humiliating protocol for medical examinations they experience; cracking down on extra-legal village councils, known as khap panchayats, which often issue edicts against women; implementing measures to improve sexuality education in schools and the community; and making new legal requirements and electoral reforms to ensure that people charged with criminal offences may not hold political office.

“The Committee’s recommendations are grounded in a framework of rights, equality and non-discrimination, and represent a paradigm shift towards recognition of women as holders of rights, not just objects of protection,” Pillay said. “The report should serve as a beacon for many other countries struggling to respect the rights of women more comprehensively by addressing sexual violence through legislation, policies and programmes.”

Pillay acknowledged some steps already taken by the Government, including the establishment of fast-track courts, and urged all political leaders of the country to rally around the Verma report and make it a national priority to execute its recommendations. She also reiterated her office’s readiness to assist in any aspect of the report’s implementation.

In the case of India, the attitude of the police towards rape was put under scrutiny when two undercover Tehelka’s reporters posed as research scholars to interview 30 police officers in the Delhi–National Capital Region. Tehelka reported that senior cops of a dozen police stations across Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad were caught on camera blaming everything from revealing clothes to having boyfriends as the main reasons for rape. Further more, some of them believed that if a woman has consensual sex with one man, then she can’t complain if his friends  join in.

Therefore, as for India, any investigations following a case of rape can be expected to be driven by prejudice, a lack of accuracy and respect, and a low rate of conviction of the perpetrators.

The situation is not different in other countries. A 2012 report by Human Rights Watch on the “Imprisonment of Women and Girls for ‘Moral Crimes’ in Afghanistan” describes similar injustices perpetrated against female victims of rape or sexual assault. The report states that prejudices of those entrusted with enforcing the law help male perpetrators of sexual violence to get away with it. The report reveals that “when women decide to leave because of abusive relationships and unhappiness,” male family members control them by making false accusations and the “ authorities [are] too willing to accept their allegations at face value.”

The report analysed three dozen cases and in most cases the judges allowed their own discretion to prevail: in the case of Tahmina J., 18, instead of pursuing her allegations of rape, the court’s decision warned that women should know that it is not safe for them to go out at night. As a result, she was convicted of zina, a broad meaning that indicates any haram (prohibited) act, and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

The problem touches every continent. For example, violence against Native American women in the United States is perpetrated at an astronomical level. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs described the plight of Native American women as a human rights crisis. Amnesty International reported that Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be stalked and their murder rate is 10 times the national average. Most disconcerting is that Native women report that the perpetrators of more than 85 percent of sexual assaults are non-Native men, as stated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In Colombia at least two women are raped every hour, according to the Instituto Nacional de Medicine Legal y Ciencias Dorenses (National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Colombia). In 2011, a number of groups, including Oxfam and the Casa de la Mujer, a non-profit Bogota-based aid organization, teamed up to produce a report called the “First Survey on the Prevalence of Sexual Violence Against Women in the Context of the Colombian Armed Conflict 2001-2009.” The study showed that from 2001 to 2009, in the 407 municipalities that have an active presence of armed forces, 18 percent of women reported a form of abuse, from rape to forced prostitution. “This means that during the nine years in which the study was carried out, 489,687 women were victims of sexual violence. This is an average of 54,410 women per year, 149 per day, or 6 women per hour,” the report states.

It might come as a surprise that similar cases of prejudice can be found also in Europe, like in the case of the 15-year-old rape victim in Rochdale, England, who had appealed for help through her parents to the social services. She told reporters that the “Social services told my Mum and Dad that I was a prostitute and it was a lifestyle choice and that because I was only six months off turning 16, they weren’t going to do anything.”

This event happened after the Council of Europe via the Committee of Ministers issued the European Assembly Recommendation 1887 (2009) on ‘Rape of women, including marital rape,’ which drawn the attention of member states’ governments for its implementation.

The situation is not necessarily better in Greece, where beside the normal routine of the Greek society where a heavy patriarchy rules, the Sharia law is applied to the Muslim women of Thrace. With the application of Sharia law by the Mufti, which is often ratified by Greek courts despite the conflicting Greek constitutional provisions and international obligations of Greece, an effective gray area is created on matters of sexual violence and rape.

Finally, Roma women not only confront multiple kinds of discrimination as women in Greece, but also as members of the Roma minority in Greece, a community with its own discriminatory patriarchy traditions and practices. Racism, patriarchy and economical disadvantages contribute to underplay any matters of sexual assault, and rape.

A panorama beyond all words horrible. There is nothing else a woman might add here.