4th Regional General Council - ELIMINATION AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The ITUC-AP reaffirms the commitment to the achievement of gender equality and women empowerment as a top trade union agenda, and affirms the grave concerns that violence against women is a serious obstacle to the achievement of equality, development of peace. It recognises the UN definition of violence against women in 1993 as amended in 2003.

The ITUC-AP emphasises that violence against women takes many forms, including physical and economic, and pursues the decisions adopted by the 2nd ITUC World Congress (Vancouver, June 2010) and the 1st ITUC World Women’s Conference (Brussels, October 2009). It reaffirms the trade unions role as vanguards and protectors of workers human and trade union rights, and calls on ITUC-AP and affiliates to advocate for adoption of ILO Convention and Recommendations on Sexual Harassment and Elimination and Prevention of Gender-based Violence Against Women, explicit inclusion of economic forms of violence against women in existing international instruments, to lobby for creation of laws and campaign for zero tolerance of VAW, to mobilise trade union actions every International Day for the Elimination of VAW (25th November), to involve male trade unionists to actively acmpaign in eliminating VAW, to mainstream elimination of VAW and actively participate in related laws.