INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORKING CONDITIONS Assédio sexual no trabalho: uma reflexão a partir de ordenamentos jurídicos (original) (raw)

The lack of visibility of sexual harassment as violence and a violation of human rights, resulting in a gap in the public policies in what concerns to the protection of the victims, was the reason for developing a legal comparative study. The first task was to collect and compare the constitutional, penal and labour law on sexual harassment in Portugal, Brazil, Canada, Spain and France, about 115 sections were analysed. The second task was intended to continue the aim of the first one, in order to analyse if the law is being put into practice. Every penal code criminalizes harassment, with the exception of the Portuguese penal code. None of the analysed penal codes has an element of the crime such as to make others to suffer or to have a severe sexual act. With regard to sentences analysed, we found that convictions occurred in cases where it was proven based on: testimonies, written and expert evidence. We believe that policy statements and workshops are the best way to prevent sexual harassment in workplace.