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The Working Group heard about a surge in workplace-related fatalities, e.g. 3 in 2015 compared to 10 in 2016, according to the Government, or 14, according to the Hyundai Heavy Industries Workplace Injury Network.21 26. (...) Health and safety in the workplace was said by government representatives49 to have been a problem in relation to large companies and increasingly also to small and medium- sized ones. (...) However, the Working Group heard that oversight and enforcement of these requirements were an issue and more should be done to facilitate the reporting of workplace incidents so that they could be properly investigated and remediation and prevention measures put in place.

The CEACR has systematically pointed out that practical measures are needed, including at the workplace, to ensure that legislative provisions and policies on equality are widely known and understood. (...) It also examined trends in institutional and policy responses since 2003, including the use of procurement policies, active labour market policies and workplace policies. Major recommendations of the 2007 Global Report related to the need to mainstream non-discrimination in the ILO’s Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCP)， the need for better laws and better enforcement, supplemented by effective non-regulatory initiatives, and the need to equip social partners better to enable them to make equality a reality at the workplace. (...) A new ILO web site offers knowledge, tools and practical guidance to prevent ethnic discrimination and facilitate integration in the context of migration, focusing on action at the workplace. It is intended to be a resource particularly for employers’ and workers’ organizations.

Research has revealed worrying levels of workplace pregnancy and maternity discrimination in Great Britain. (...) And one in nine reported that they were either dismissed; made compulsorily redundant, where others in their workplace were not; or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job. (...) We call on the UK Government to mitigate any indirectly discriminatory effect these changes have had on women’s access to justice, and to recognise the multiple barriers that pregnant women and new mothers face in seeking legal redress following workplace discrimination7. We therefore recommend that the UK Government considers increasing the time limit from three to six months for bringing an Employment Tribunal claim involving pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

The law on gender equality of 2011 provides a broad framework prohibiting gender- based discrimination, establishing special measures to promote equality and prohibiting non- discrimination in a broad range of spheres, such as political life, the workplace, education, culture, health care and family life. (...) A/HRC/50/26/Add.1 GE.22-05824 5 particular, she welcomes the explicit recognition that such harassment may also take place outside the workplace, including online, and the provisions ensuring equal pay for men and women. (...) Additionally, the Government has concentrated almost the entirety of its efforts and resources on addressing domestic violence, which has led to important challenges regarding other manifestations of gender-based violence, such as workplace harassment, online violence against women and violence against women in politics. 30.

Most companies make firm commitments to nondiscrimination in the workplace. Statements are made in absolute terms, using language like, “does not discriminate, ” “employees are not subjected to discrimination”， and “will not [permit] or [tolerate].” (...) The committees monitor workplace conditions and routinely receive itemized reports on risks, including psychological and social risks. (...) In addition, policies that prohibit physical and/or mental harassment in the workplace were coded as support for both the right to life, liberty, and security of the person as well as the freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

The Working Group was informed that COVID-19-related deaths are treated as accidents in the workplace, thus qualifying the families of victims to compensation, although it appears that migrant workers are often either unaware of this policy or have not received any compensation. (...) It provides a full range of services from legal advice, transportation to the workplace and basic health services, to avoid any intermediation from the caporali. (...) While the number of detected irregularities may be seen as an indicator of the effectiveness of such inspections, the Working Group learned that the national Labour Inspectorate for safety in the workplace faces serious issues of resources and capacity.

Workers also have the right to an effective remedy for violations of their right to a healthy workplace. The Korean Workers’ Compensation Insurance provides compensation for workers who are injured in the course of employment, as required under the Labour 34 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 2 (3). 35 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 14 (2000) on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, para. 11. 36 Ibid., para. 36. (...) Former workers explained that they would still smell fumes from the workplace long after returning home. Neither the former workers nor the family members of the deceased could name the substances they had used in the workplace. (...) In addition to the lack of transparency about hazardous substances used or released in the workplace, critical information about alleged victims was not disclosed by the Government, businesses or civil society to the Special Rapporteur.

For instance, the Workmen’s Compensation Ordinance, of 1935, is being amended to increase compensation for workplace accidents from SL Rs 550,000 to SL Rs 2 million. (...) Health issues resulting from long working hours and exploitative working conditions, such as muscle pains and workplace injuries, were confirmed by a large number of interlocutors, including workers themselves. (...) Many women who worked as domestic workers in various destination countries reported instances of abuse and exploitation in the workplace, ranging from the withholding of identity documents and wages, to long working hours and physical, verbal and/or sexual abuse.

In the area of pay and employment, ACHRA welcomes the measures taken under the new Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth) (previously the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 (Cth))30 in particular the development of reporting matters for the gender equality indicators identified in the Act. (...) At http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/index.php/our- projects-a-initiatives/koori-women-and-prisons (viewed 4 November 2013). 30 This new legislation applies to both men and women and covers all employees and employers in the workplace. The principal objects of the Act have been amended to promote and improve gender equality in the workplace, with specific recognition of equal remuneration and family and caring responsibilities as issues that are central to improving women’s participation in the workforce. (...) At https://www.humanrights.gov.au/women-male-dominated-industries-toolkit-strategies (viewed 13 October 2013). 32 Workplace Gender Equality Agency, ‘The cost of being female: 64 extra days at work’ (Media Release, 2 September 2013).

Sexual harassment in the workplace 35. Sexual harassment in the workplace is prohibited by law, but there is no national- level data collected about its prevalence. In its concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Greece, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women expressed concern with regard to the absence of statistical data disaggregated by sex on complaints related to gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the workplace.30 The Working Group echoes that concern. 36. According to the Office of the Ombudsman, the number of cases of sexual harassment that occur in the workplace is much higher than the number of complaints submitted to the Office.