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1. The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report to the Human Rights Committee which monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (United Nations document CCPR/C/75/Add.2 of 13 March 1997) that for the first time in the history of the Sudan the principle of non-discrimination has been enshrined in the constitutional arrangements, in particular the Seventh Constitutional Decree. The Committee would like to receive a copy of this Decree, as well as information on its legal status and information on measures contemplated or taken to implement the discrimination provision.

2. The Committee notes, however, that the Government's report on this Convention has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. In its two previous observations, the Committee had requested full information on the practical application of section 6(c)(6) of Constitutional Decree No. 2 of 30 June 1989, under which a state of emergency was declared throughout Sudan, political parties and trade unions were dissolved, and measures may be taken to terminate the service of any public employee and every contract with a public office while preserving the rights to service benefits or compensation. The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no information on this point. The Committee draws the Government's attention to Article 4 of the Convention and to the need for measures intended to safeguard the security of the State to be sufficiently well-defined and delimited so as to ensure that they do not amount to discrimination based on any grounds proscribed in the Convention. It again refers to paragraph 136 of the Committee's 1988 General Survey on equality in employment and occupation, according to which, the application of measures to safeguard the security of the State must be examined in the light of the bearing which the activities concerned may have on the actual performance of the job, tasks or occupation of the person concerned'. The Committee hopes to receive full information in the Government's next report on the practical impact of the above-mentioned Decree.

2. As no information has been supplied by the Government on the legal status of the position paper entitled Concessional position on the issue of state and the religion during the interim period' of which the Committee was informed in May 1993, the Committee again asks the Government for information in this regard. The Committee also asks the Government to inform it of any progress towards a new Constitution which would, according to the position paper, be silent about state religion.

3. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply, when available, a copy of the new Manpower Act referred to in its previous report, which according to the Government's information includes a provision giving express effect to the Convention.

4. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government on the work of the selection committees in the public service and the Government's statement that the selection process to fill a public post is conducted through a free discussion based on qualifications, and is determined by examinations or interviews or both, depending on the work requirements and the various specializations'. According to the Government's report, the section of the Public Service Act of 1991 where this is stated remains effective through section 18 of the Public Service Act of 1994. Noting also the Government's statement that the committees' decisions are taken on the basis of the principle of equal opportunities and without discrimination on the grounds of sex, religion or race, the Committee asks the Government for information on how respect for this principle in the selection committees' decisions is monitored, and on the procedure available for appealing against a decision where a person considers that he or she has been discriminated against on any of the grounds of the Convention.

5. The Committee notes that the Government's most recent overall figures regarding university and secondary-school graduates selected for the public service in 1991 and 1992 differ from the figures supplied by the Government for the same years in its previous report, quoted, with reference to university graduates only, by the Committee in its March 1995 observation. According to the latest figures, of the 4,012 graduates in 1991, only 1,761 were women; but of the 4,037 graduates in 1992, 2,829 were women. The Committee asks the Government to provide similar statistics for 1993-95, showing, if possible, public service employees by occupations and level of responsibilities, disaggregated by sex and, if available, national extraction and religion.

6. The Committee notes the statistics supplied concerning the number of participants in various courses offered at regional vocational training centres. However, it notes that the data contain no breakdown of participants by sex and origin as asked for by the Committee in its four previous direct requests to the Government. Referring to paragraph 247 of its above-mentioned 1988 General Survey, the Committee stresses the importance of having statistical analyses of the distribution of labour in the national economy so as to be in a position to identify de facto discrimination through, for example, occupational segregation based on sex, religion and race. Accordingly, the Committee would repeat its request for detailed statistical breakdowns, by sex and religion, of participants in the various vocational training centres.

3. The Committee is addressing a direct request to the Government on certain other points.