On June 21, 2019, the International Law Organization (ILO) adopted the groundbreaking Convention No. 190 concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (C190) and the accompanying Recommendation on the same topic (R206). ILO conventions are legally binding instruments, once ratified by states, while recommendations provide advice and guidance. The result of two years of negotiations by ILO members—governments, workers’ representatives, and employers’ organizations—is an international treaty setting out standards that are aimed at ending violence and harassment in the world of work. In its “Women, Business and the Law 2018” study, the World Bank reports that there is a lack of legal protection against harassment at work in 70 percent of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa, half of the economies in East Asia and the Pacific, and one-third of those in Latin America and the Caribbean, affecting an estimated 500 million working-age women.

Known as the Kampala Convention, the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa is the first regional treaty to comprehensively address the issue of internal displacement. Having entered into force with its fifteenth ratification on December 6, 2012, the Convention tackles a major humanitarian, human rights, and development issue for the African continent, as there are more than 9.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The treaty builds on the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, integrating international human rights and humanitarian law norms as they relate to internal displacement, and incorporating principles from African regional standards such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Great Lakes Protocol. While rooted in these standards, the Convention also reflects recent developments and the evolution of best practice regarding IDP protection. In so doing, the Convention advances the normative standard on internal displacement in a number of important areas, including in terms of the prohibition on arbitrary displacement; the responsibilities of international and regional organizations; internal displacement linked to the effects of climate change; and remedies for those affected by displacement.