2021 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 46-58
In June 2019, the General Conference of the International Labour Organization have decided on the adoption of the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019. It has defined harassment and violence （in the world of work） as unacceptable behaviours and practices which result in physical, psychological, sexual and economic harm. It has also mentioned that the protection by this convention should covered workers and other persons in the world of work, including not only employees with employment contract defined by national law, also persons who are working irrespective of their contractual status, such as interns and apprentices, workers whose employment has been terminated, and “individuals exercising the authority, duties or responsibilities of an employer”.
Whereas, in Japan, May 2019, a new legislation has been enacted and obliged employers to take steps for prevention of power harassment. However, this new law protects limited workers and practitioners, also has no provision to prohibit harassment neither one to impose criminal penalties. It means that the situations in Japan have still not met a standard defined by convention. In a different perspective, it is also a problem in Japan that there are several separated legislations for each type of harassment. It makes legislation systems difficult to understand. While it is also important to understand contexts and causes of harassment in struggle with them, legislations in Japan have an absence of them. This is another problem, too.
In light of these issues, Japan should also consider enacting an independent harassment prevention law.
Annals of the Society for the Study of Social Policy
