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

1. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Maternity Protection Act of 1997 which, inter alia, provides protection to all working women in respect of the terms and conditions and security of their employment during pregnancy and maternity leave periods. It further notes that work is still ongoing as regards the development of legislation on equal opportunity. In this regard, it notes the holding of an equal opportunity public forum and workshop to discuss equality issues in light of the preparation of legislation. The Committee notes the Government's indication that it is anticipated that the proposed bill will be read in Parliament during its 1998-99 session, and that, in its present format, the bill generally seeks to prohibit certain kinds of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity, to establish an equal opportunity commission and an equal opportunity tribunal. Noting that no legislative provisions currently exist to protect against discrimination in employment and occupation, the Committee hopes that any legislation adopted will be in conformity with the Convention.

2. Further to the Committee's previous comments concerning the discriminatory nature of provisions in several government regulations, which provide that married female officers may have their employment terminated if family obligations affect their efficient performance of duties (section 57 of the Public Service Commission Regulations; section 52 of the Police Commission Regulations; section 58 of the Statutory Authorities' Service Commission Regulations), and that a female officer who marries must report the fact of her marriage to the Public Service Commission (section 14(2) of the Civil Service Regulations), the Committee notes the Government's indication that these Regulations are being comprehensively revised, one of the general objectives of the revision being the removal of any element of discrimination which might exist in the Regulations. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to inform it in its next report that the discriminatory provisions of the Regulations have been removed.

3. With regard to its previous comments concerning the status of implementation of the recommendations contained in a survey entitled "Ethnicity and employment practices" of the Centre for Ethnic Studies of the University of the West Indies, the Committee notes the Government's indication that no clear evidence is available as to the extent of the implementation of the recommendations. It recalls that the 16 recommendations made with regard to the public sector concerned the need for non-discriminatory recruitment practices in the public service in view of the study's findings concerning racial and ethnic discrimination, and the eight recommendations for the private sector commenced with a call for firms to "take immediate steps to draw up clearly written equal opportunity programmes relating to recruitment, training and promotion". Noting that a programme of public sector reform has been initiated, within which the establishment of human resource units have been a prominent feature, and some devolution of authority and functions of the Public Service Commission has taken place, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on proactive measures taken or envisaged with regard to the implementation of the recommendations, taking into account the ongoing process of structural reform of the public service.