Human Rights Watch: Museveni must sign employment bill to protect workers

Studies have highlighted the prevalence of workplace violence in Uganda, with  a 2021 survey showing 86% of working women experience violence at work

Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | President Yoweri Museveni should sign into law the recently amended employment bill that was passed in May this year to protect employees particularly women, from various forms of violence and harassment, including sexual violence in the workplace, Human Rights Watch said on Sep.18.

The demand comes after the government ratified a global treaty that seeks to eliminate violence and harassment at work. Uganda officially notified the International Labour Organization (ILO) of its ratification of Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment (C190) on Aug. 7, making it the eighth African country and the 32nd worldwide to do so.

Convention 190, also known as C190, requires countries to establish laws and regulations to prevent and address workplace harassment and violence. It mandates the implementation of prevention measures, complaints mechanisms, monitoring, enforcement, and support for survivors.

“President Yoweri Museveni should now quickly approve the employment bill, and Ugandan authorities should prioritize reforms of all laws, policies and regulations to ensure that everyone in the world of work is free of violence and harassment,” said Rothna Begum, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based human rights body wants President Museveni to append his signature onto the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2022, passed by the 11th Parliament on May 24, 2022.

The Bill compels employers to take measures to prevent sexual harassment and prohibits mistreatment, harassment, or violence against employees. It extends labour law protection to domestic workers and certain casual workers, amending the Employment Act No. 6 of 2006.

Human Rights Watch also wants Ugandan authorities to promptly ensure that all Ugandan laws, regulations and policies are in line with the global treaty. However, President Museveni is yet to sign it into law. Uganda’s constitution stipulates that if the president fails to sign or return a bill to Parliament within 30 working days, it automatically becomes law.

However, the delay in the president’s action has raised questions, with some suggesting that probably he may be consulting on the matter. Margaret Rwabushaija, one of the Workers MP in the 11th Parliament told The Independent that President Museveni’s action “ is nothing unusual,’ pointing to her own Bill (the Markets Bill,2022) that Museveni signed into law almost a year after being passed in Parliament.

Charles Bakkabulindi, another Workers MP also told The Independent on Sept.21 that unless President Museveni sends the Bill back to Parliament, “Ugandans will have to wait.” “You know we can’t force him to sign it.”

Bakkabulindi, however, told The Independent that it is important for the President to assent to the Employment (Amendment) Bill because it is an important law for Ugandan workers.

The president needs to approve the bill before regulations and policies can be drafted to carry out the new provisions. The bill is a reconciled merger of a bill introduced by Betty Amongi Akena, the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, and a private member’s bill introduced by Agnes Kunihira, a Workers’ MP.

Violence at work

Studies have shown that violence at work in Uganda is highly prevalent. In 2021, a nationwide survey done by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) on violence against women and girls found that 86% of working women reported facing violence at work in the year preceding the survey, with verbal abuse the most frequent form. It also found women in rural areas are twice as likely as women in urban areas to have experienced workplace violence, and recent migrant women are also more likely to have experienced violence.

Another study done in 2020 by Akina Mama wa Afrika, a pan-African feminist non-governmental organization in Kampala, found that sexual harassment is rampant in the floriculture, banking, and urban market sectors, where women workers are predominant.

“This is a huge win,” said Elizabeth Kemigisha, the Advocacy Officer at the Association of Women Lawyers (FIDA Uganda). “This legally binding instrument has a transformative and bold message that gender-based violence is unacceptable, punishable and will not be tolerated in the world of work.

“This ratification is important especially for women who work in the informal sector whose workspaces continue to normalize sexual harassment. Now, we urge the Government to implement this Convention.”

Over the last four years, trade unions, local women’s rights, and worker rights groups, have raised awareness of C190, advocated for its ratification, and negotiated reforms to align current laws and policies with the treaty.

The multi-stakeholder Technical Working Group on ending sexual harassment and violence in the world of work, formed in 2022, played a key role in Uganda’s ratification of the treaty and reforms to align with it.

The group, chaired by the Minister of Gender, Labour, and Social Development, includes representatives from the National Organization for Trade Unions, Federation of Uganda Employers, Akina Mama wa Afrika, Association of Women Lawyers, Platform for Labour Action, among other groups, organizations, and ministries.

The Bill amends Section 7(4) of the Employment Act 2006 by requiring all employers to put measures in place to prevent sexual harassment irrespective of the number of employees at the workplace. Currently, the law only imposes such obligations on employers with over 25 employees.

The bill also prohibits mistreatment, harassment or violence against an employee including intimidation, and physical, verbal or written abuse that interferes with work or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment.

However, it does not fully align with the treaty, which defines “violence and harassment” in the world of work as “a range of unacceptable behaviours and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm, and includes gender-based violence and harassment.”

Bill recognizes domestic workers

The bill for the first time explicitly recognizes domestic workers as workers under the labour law, and provides that casual workers who have worked for six continuous months will be deemed to have a valid contract and thus are automatically entitled to employment protections. It also authorizes the labour minister to pass necessary regulations for domestic workers, casual employees, and other workers deemed in need of special protection.

“The proposed provisions on prevention and prohibition of sexual harassment, mistreatment, harassment or violence against employees in the Employment Amendment Bill that awaits presidential approval is a concrete and tangible step in the right direction by Uganda,” said Bwiite Lydia, the Program Manager at Platform for Labour Action in Uganda.

“If assented into law, this will form a basis upon which detailed regulations on violence and harassment in the world of work can be developed which would provide the opportunity to ensure that all the provisions of the C190 are domesticated.”

The bill includes a new definition of the “workplace” to include all places where work is carried out or where workers are found as a consequence of their work. The treaty requires that tackling violence and harassment needs to go beyond the physical workplace to places also linked with or arising out of work, such as during commuting.

It also requires covering not just formal employees, but also people working irrespective of their contractual status, trainees including interns and apprentices, workers whose employment has been terminated, job seekers, and job applicants.

Once the president approves the bill, the authorities should review and update Uganda’s 2012 Employment (Sexual Harassment) Regulations in line with the treaty and conduct regional level consultations to review all regulations to make them consistent with the treaty’s requirements.

The Labour Ministry should work with worker and women’s rights organizations and the Technical Working Group, to identify sectors, occupations and groups that are most vulnerable to violence and determine effective protection measures and complaints mechanisms, including for informal sector workers, in line with the treaty, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch wants the Ugandan authorities to look at sector-specific legal reforms such as regulations for domestic workers, as well as for market vendors, following the Markets Act, 2023.

“The authorities should also develop measures to mitigate the effects of domestic violence in the world of work, including with flexible working arrangements and leave for domestic violence survivors, as provided under the treaty and its related recommendation,” notes a statement from Human Rights Watch.

“The ratification of C190 is an important step forward for Uganda but it is just the beginning,” Begum said. “Now we need to see Ugandan authorities continue to work with worker rights and women’s rights groups, and employers, to root out violence and harassment at work once and for all.”