The Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) celebrates the ratification of  International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. This achievement, realised in Colombia on June 11, 2025, and in Costa Rica on August 20, 2025, makes Latin America the region with the most ratifications, with a total of ten countries already adopting the agreement.

The ratification of Convention 190 is a historic milestone in labor relations and a victory for the trade union movement, which aims to guarantee work environments free from violence, harassment, and discrimination.

Adopted in 2019, ILO Convention 190 protects the right of everyone to a safe and non-violent working environment. In addition, it incorporates a gender perspective and expands its reach beyond the physical workplace to cover commuting, telework, social events, and work-related activities, even the home field in some cases.

BWI congratulates its affiliates in the region for their commitment. In Costa Rica, the National Union of Public Works and Transport Workers (UNATROPYT), a union that has historically fought for gender equality in the sector and has 50 percent of women on its board of directors. The work of the Colombian union movement and the INTERGREMIAL workers is also recognised and appreciated for their participation in defending this ratification.

The BWI Regional Women's Committee celebrates this achievement as part of the campaign for ratification and implementation of the C190 and reaffirms its commitment to continue working for other countries to join.

In September, the campaign continues in Brazil, where BWI will join the women's mobilisation organised by the union headquarters in Brazil to ask for Congress's ratification of the convention. In Argentina, the ILO Convention 190 Guide continues to be disseminated, providing tools to build safe workspaces with a gender perspective, a resource for union representatives to address violence and harassment, and to incorporate the provisions of the convention in collective agreements and international framework agreements.

BWI reaffirms its commitment to continue fighting for this instrument to become a tool of real protection for all working people, especially women and LGBTIAQ+ people, who are most affected by the consequences of violence, harassment, and discrimination.

The ILO Convention 190 has already been ratified in 50 countries since entering into force in 2021. In Latin America, the other countries that have ratified are Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay.