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1. Article 2 of the Convention. Promotion of the principle of the Convention. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s statement that the Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa has been ratified in March 2005. The Committee also takes note of the Government’s explanations that the National Council for Women, created by Executive Decree No. 97-98 in 1997, has been officially set up on 8 March 2005 and is currently defining its operational structure and preparing its programme of activities. The Committee hopes that the Council will soon be able to put into practice its mandate to promote the advancement of the status of women in the country and to conduct and disseminate research in this area. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the activities carried out by the Council, including copies of reports, published studies and surveys as well as information on tripartite involvement, to promote the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value.

2. The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report for the third consecutive time does not contain a reply on the remaining points raised in its previous comments. The Committee therefore urges the Government once again to include in its next report full information in reply to its previous direct request, which raised the following points.

(a)  Article 2. Principle of equal remuneration. The Committee notes that the Government continues to repeat that the concept of equal remuneration for work of equal value is included in Act No. 90-11 of 21 April 1990 and that there is no inequality of remuneration between men and women since remuneration is attached to jobs, regardless of sex. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the national survey on wages does not contain data on wage levels disaggregated by sex. In this regard, the Committee recalls its general observations of 1990 and 1998 on this Convention in which it pointed out that the mere removal of male and female wage classifications is not sufficient for a full application of the Convention. An analysis of the position and pay of men and women in all job categories within and between the various sectors is required to address fully the continuing remuneration gap between men and women which is based on sex. Thus, in the absence of any statistical data disaggregated by sex provided in the Government’s report, the Committee is bound to remind the Government that collecting such information is essential in order to enable it to assess to what extent the principle laid down in the Convention and in national legislation is applied in practice and what progress has been made. Recalling that the Government may request, if need be, the technical assistance of the Office regarding the establishment of sex-disaggregated statistics, the Committee requests the Government to indicate all efforts undertaken to collect data concerning the levels of remuneration of women and men and to transmit all statistical information already available, including reports, research documentation, surveys or other.

(b)  Article 3. Objective appraisal of jobs. In the absence of any information on this point, the Committee must recall that when employment evaluation plans use market salary rates to establish the relative weight of criteria, it is possible that these weightings tend to reflect discrimination in the labour market stemming from sexist prejudices or stereotypical perceptions, which result in the under-evaluation of employment carried out principally by women. This is why the Committee recommends the establishment of evaluation systems for occupations in which women predominate and those in which men predominate in order to identify and remedy cases of wage discrimination. In addition, even when the State does not intervene directly in determining wages, it is nevertheless under an obligation, pursuant to Article 2 of the Convention, to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration, particularly when it has the legal power to do so under constitutional or legislative provisions. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to supply information on the measures taken or envisaged: (a) to ensure application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in the spheres in which it can exert direct or indirect influence on the determination of wage scales; (b) to encourage application of the principle of equal remuneration in cases where the Government is excluded from the wage-fixing machinery; and (c) to cooperate with employers and workers for the purpose of giving effect to the Convention and national legislation on the subject.

3. In order to ascertain the progress made in the application of the Convention, the Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to provide with its next report full information in reply to each of these points.