"For women like me what is #MeToo ? There is no place safe for us." New @hrw report documents stories of workplace harassment in #India's informal sector, which employs 95% of women workers. A thread on findings and recs. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/14/india-women-risk-sexual-abuse-work #MainBhi @IndiaMeToo

The #MeToo movement helped to shine a light on violence and harassment at work, but the experiences of millions of women in #India’s informal sector remain invisible. https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/10/14/no-metoo-women-us/poor-enforcement-indias-sexual-harassment-law

In 2013, India enacted the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace law or the POSH Act as it is popularly known, to protect workers in both formal and informal sectors. The law was a significant legislative step to address the problem but unfortunately, remains poorly enforced.

POSH Act requires employers to create Internal Committee at each office with 10 or more employees. For less than 10 employees & for women in informal sector, state govt’s district officer/collector required to form a Local Committee in each district.

These committees receive complaints of sexual harassment, conduct inquiries, recommend actions against abusers. However, many of these Local Committees do not exist, and when they do, there is little publicly available information on how to access them.

Even in formal sector, when women spoke out as part of #MeToo against men in senior positions, they often encountered a backlash. In some cases, faced charges under criminal defamation law. These produce a chilling effect deterring other victims from coming forward.

Govt is also responsible for developing training, educational materials, organizing awareness programs, monitoring implementation of the law, and maintaining data on the number of sexual harassment cases filed and resolved in the workplace.

But there are no proper monitoring mechanisms and data is lacking on the implementation so far. Women's rights activists and worker unions have repeatedly recommended an audit of the Local Committees established under the law.

The report recommends that government should set up effective monitoring systems for committees in both formal and informal sectors, and publish regular reports to ensure transparency and accountability.

The government should establish Local Committees at every level of the local government to ensure easy access and conduct regular training for committee members, district magistrates, and other relevant district officials.

For domestic workers, law says that Local Committees must refer the case to police, leaving no civil remedy. Domestic worker groups have called for the law to be amended to ensure domestic workers have same access to time-bound justice through Local Committees as other workers.

In a welcome move, Indian govt voted in favor of the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention last year, a landmark treaty that establishes global standards to prevent & respond to violence and harassment in the workplace. It should #RatifyILOTreaty and fully enforce the POSH Act.