E/C.12/GC/23 national legislation. They have a right to just and favourable conditions of work and should be protected by laws and policies on occupational safety and health, rest and leisure, and reasonable limitations on working hours, as well as social security. Freedom from harassment, including sexual harassment 48. All workers should be free from physical and mental harassment, including sexual harassment. Legislation, such as anti-discrimination laws, the penal code and labour legislation, should define harassment broadly, with explicit reference to sexual and other forms of harassment, such as on the basis of sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status. A specific definition of sexual harassment in the workplace is appropriate, and legislation should criminalize and punish sexual harassment as appropriate. A national policy to be applied in the workplace, in both the public and private sectors, should include at least the following elements: (a) explicit coverage of harassment by and against any worker; (b) prohibition of certain acts that constitute harassment, including sexual harassment; (c) identification of specific duties of employers, managers, supervisors and workers to prevent and, where relevant, resolve and remedy harassment cases; (d) access to justice for victims, including through free legal aid; (e) compulsory training for all staff, including for managers and supervisors; (f) protection of victims, including the provision of focal points to assist them, as well as avenues of complaint and redress; (g) explicit prohibition of reprisals; (h) procedures for notification and reporting to a central public authority of claims of sexual harassment and their resolution; (i) provision of a clearly visible workplace-specific policy, developed in consultation with workers, employers and their representative organizations, and other relevant stakeholders such as civil society organizations. 49. Human rights defenders should be able to contribute to the full realization of Covenant rights for all, free from any form of harassment. States parties should respect, protect and promote the work of human rights defenders and other civil society actors towards the realization of the right to just and favourable conditions of work, including by facilitating access to information and enabling the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly and public participation. III. Obligations A. General obligations 50. States parties must comply with their core obligations and take deliberate, concrete and targeted steps towards the progressive realization of the right to just and favourable conditions of work, using maximum available resources.43 In addition to legislation as an indispensable step, States should also ensure the provision of judicial and other effective remedies that include, but are not limited to, administrative, financial, educational and social measures. 51. States parties must move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full implementation of the right to just and favourable conditions of work, with a level of flexibility to choose the appropriate means. Although non-State actors, such as employer and worker organizations, also have a responsibility to secure just and favourable conditions of work, particularly through collective agreements, States parties must 43 14 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 3 (1990) on the nature of States parties’ obligations.