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1. Article 1 of the Convention. Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex- sexual harassment. Further to its 2002 general observation on the issue, the Committee notes that the Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Training Act of 2002 prohibits sexual harassment in employment and occupation as a form of sex discrimination. The Act defines sexual harassment as constituting a hostile work environment but does not include the elements of quid pro quo. The scope of protection from sexual harassment is broad, extending from job or training applicants to full-time employees in the domains of vocational training through to terms and conditions of employment. Under section 12 of the Act, employers or their representatives, supervisors or co-workers can be responsible for conduct constituting sexual harassment although no reference is made to either clients or other persons in connection with the performance of work duties. Section 17 provides protection from dismissal or deleterious changes in conditions of work to those reporting abuses of sexual harassment or those rebutting such accusations. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of these provisions on sexual harassment in practice and indications on their contribution to eliminating sexual harassment in the workplace.

2. Article 1(2). Inherent requirements of the job. The Committee notes that section 4 of the Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Training Act states that certain professional activities are excluded from the scope of the Act because sex is a factor of decisive importance for their execution. The activities are set in a Schedule to the Act. They include employment in certain positions when the post concerns the provision of services of a personal nature, such as care of the elderly or disabled (paragraph 4 of the Schedule). The Committee also notes that according to section 4(3) of the Act, these exceptions shall be re-examined by the competent authority at least every five years to determine, in the light of social developments, whether they should be maintained. The Committee recalls that the exception allowed for in Article 1(2) of the Convention must be interpreted strictly so as not to result in undue limitation of the protection that the Convention is intended to provide. In order to fall within the scope of the exception the criteria must in a concrete way correspond to the inherent requirements of the job. The evaluation of an individual’s competence for a given task based on stereotypes of the category or group to which the person belongs, rather than on his or her merit or personal competence, is unacceptable. The Committee hopes that the exceptions listed in the Schedule, in particular those in paragraph 3 of the Schedule, will be applied in accordance with the Convention and limited to matters related to the inherent requirements of the job. It invites the Government to provide information on the practical implementation of these provisions including information on judicial cases and labour inspection processes involving section 4 of the Act. The Government is also ask to provide information on the outcome of the upcoming review envisaged under section 4(3) and hopes the Committee’s comments will be taken into consideration in this process.

3. Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment of men and women. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that the labour force participation rate of women is still lower than that of men at 59 per cent in 2002 compared to the male employment rate of 78.8 per cent for the same period. It notes, however, the increase of women employed in higher skilled occupations, such as managers, professionals and technicians at 44.3 per cent of all those working in higher skilled occupations in 2002, up from 36.1 per cent in 1992. The Committee also notes the Government’s reports of improvements, according to which women now hold positions such as the General Auditor of the Republic, the Ombudsman of the Republic, Minister of Health and the Law Commissioner which in previous years were positions only held by men. It further notes that the gap between employed men and women with tertiary education decreased between 1992 and 2002 so that 52.1 per cent of all those employed with tertiary education in 2002 were men and 47.9 per cent were women. It notes significant differences however in the occupations of tertiary educated men and women; 18.8 per cent of legislators and managers with tertiary education are women compared to 81.3 per cent of men. On the other hand 75.2 per cent of tertiary educated clerks were women compared with 24.8 per cent of men. The Committee therefore requests information from the Government on the measures taken to increase labour force participation of women and facilitate access of tertiary educated women to positions of legislators and managers. It also requests the Government to review the apparent high concentration of women with tertiary education in clerical occupations and provide information of measures taken to avoid the occupational segregation of women.

4. Equality of opportunity and treatment on the basis of race, colour and national extraction. The Government reports that draft legislation is in progress to harmonize Cypriot law with Directive 2000/43/EC on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin. The Committee requests that the Government keep it informed of progress in this regard. The Committee must also reiterate its request for information on the work and functioning of the current structures to prohibit discrimination in employment against ethnic minorities and foreign workers, as detailed in previous comments, together with information on measures taken to increase the awareness of the public and social partners on non-discrimination practices. It also reiterates its request for statistical information on the position of different racial and ethnic minority members in the labour market.