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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report and attached documentation, in particular the promulgation of Act No. 65-99 establishing the Labour Code by virtue of Dahir No. 1-03-194 of 11 September 2003. It also notes that, under section 179 of the new Labour Code, it is prohibited to engage minors under 18 years of age, women and handicapped employees to perform work in quarries or underground work in mines, and therefore the national legislation remains unchanged in this respect.

The Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, based on the conclusions and proposals of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided to promote with respect to underground work the ratification of the recent Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (No. 176), while inviting the States parties to Convention No. 45 to denounce, at the same time, this latter instrument (see GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraph 13). Contrary to the old approach based on the outright prohibition of underground work for all female workers, modern standards focus on risk assessment and risk management and provide for sufficient preventive and protective measures for mineworkers, irrespective of gender, whether employed in surface or underground sites. As the Committee has noted in its General Survey of 2001 on night work of women in industry in relation to Conventions Nos. 4, 41 and 89, "the question of devising measures that aim at protecting women generally because of their gender (as distinct from those aimed at protecting women’s reproductive and infant nursing roles) has always been and continues to be controversial" (paragraph 186).

In the light of the foregoing observations, and also considering that the present trend is no doubt to remove all gender-specific restrictions on underground work, the Committee invites the Government to give favourable consideration to the ratification of the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (No. 176), which shifts the emphasis from a specific category of workers to the safety and health protection of all mineworkers, and possibly also to the denunciation of Convention No. 45. In this respect, the Committee recalls that, according to established practice, the Convention will be next open to denunciation during a one-year period from 30 May 2007 to 30 May 2008. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decision taken in this regard.