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I. INTRODUCTION On 21 June 2019, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted a new global treaty addressing violence and harassment in the workplace.1 The Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (ILO Convention 190, or the "Violence and Harassment Convention") represents a major step toward ensuring safe workplaces for everyone, with the potential to benefit gender equality in the economy. Additionally, ILO members' near-unanimous support for the Convention—which was adopted by a vote of 439–7, with thirty abstentions—suggests it will likely be widely ratified.2 In its twenty articles, the Violence and Harassment Convention comprehensively articulates member states' responsibilities to prevent and eliminate sexual harassment in all public and private workplaces. The Convention also notes that sexual harassment is but one component of "gender-based violence and harassment," and calls on countries to address gender-based violence and harassment more broadly (Article 1). Finally, the Convention broadly reaffirms member states' commitments to protect fundamental labor rights—including freedom of association, collective bargaining, and protection from child labor—and to legally prohibit and prevent discrimination based on gender and other statuses (Articles 5 and 6). The Convention has the potential to be a powerful lever for action in the growing movement to end sexual harassment. In 2017, the "#MeToo" movement sparked international conversations about the prevalence and cost of sexual harassment in the workplace, bringing to the forefront stories of gender-based violence in an "uprising of the formerly disregarded."3 The Convention is the first multilateral treaty to explicitly and comprehensively address sexual harassment in the workplace.4 Its adoption is especially timely as stakeholders at all levels are increasingly recognizing the urgency of harnessing public attention to end sexual harassment, which is "a human rights violation of gender-based discrimination."5 For this landmark treaty to have an impact within countries, however, commitments to ending sexual harassment must be translated into action at the national level. The domestication of the Convention's principles within national laws and policies is one critical step toward ensuring its full and effective implementation, and it is required by the Convention's text itself. Specifically, Article 4 calls on countries to "prohibi[t] in law violence and harassment, ensur[e] that relevant policies address violence and harassment, [and] … ensur[e] access...





