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The Committee notes that the Government’s report due in 2006 has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat the main points raised in its observation of 2005 on the following issues:

1. Coordination of employment policy with poverty reduction. The Committee recalls that the draft National Employment Policy was to be submitted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to Cabinet in July 2004 for consideration and adoption. While the Government explained that the draft National Employment Policy represents the first comprehensive action to address the problems of unemployment, underemployment, labour productivity and poverty in the country, it acknowledged that employment remains one of its greatest challenges since more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. Unemployment and underemployment are rampant among women, youth and graduates from institutions of higher learning, tertiary and other institutions. The Government has thus included employment objectives in the development plans and programmes, such as the Poverty Eradication Action Plan aimed at accelerating economic growth and the eradication of poverty. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the measures taken to ensure that employment, as a key element of poverty reduction, is central to macroeconomic and social policies. It asks the Government to report on the status of the draft National Employment Policy and the Poverty Eradication Action Plan, as well as any evaluation on the impact of its programmes to combat unemployment focusing on university graduates (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention).

2. The Committee emphasizes the importance of establishing a system for compilation of labour market data and requests the Government to report on any progress made in this field and asks the Government to provide in its next report disaggregated data on trends in the labour market, including information on the situation, level and trends of employment, underemployment and unemployment throughout the country and the extent to which they affect the most vulnerable categories of workers (such as women, young persons and rural workers).

3. Participation of the social partners. The Government indicated that during the development of the draft National Employment Policy, the views of all affected persons were taken into account through the various workshops held. The Committee takes due note of this information and recalls that Article 3 of the Convention requires consultations with representatives of all persons affected, and particularly representatives of employers and workers, in the formulation and implementation of employment policies. It is the joint responsibility of the Government and the representative organizations of employers and workers to ensure that representatives of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups of the active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see paragraph 493 of the General Survey of 2004 on promoting employment). The Committee would appreciate continuing to receive information on the involvement of the social partners on the matters covered by the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2007].