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1. The Committee notes with interest the activities undertaken by the National Institute for Women (INAMU) and the Gender Equality Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS) for the implementation of systematic plans to improve not only the quantity, but also the quality of employment for women, to which it refers in its direct request.

2. It also notes that on 8 March 2007 a draft amendment to the Act to combat sexual harassment was submitted to the Legislative Assembly. This draft text reflects the annual report 2005–06 of the Office of the Defender of Women in the National Office of the Defender of the Population, which indicated that although the Act to combat sexual harassment was intended to protect the interests of victims of harassment, its application has often had the opposite effect of restricting the rights of women as victims, giving rise to an exponential increase in sexual harassment. The draft text is the outcome of six months’ work by the following institutions: the Office of the National Defender of the Population, through the Office of the Defender of Women; the University of Costa Rica, represented by the Centre for Women’s Investigations and Studies (CIEM); the Technological Institute of Costa Rica, represented by the Gender Equality Bureau; the National Institute for Women, represented by the Gender Violence Unit; the Legislative Assembly (two deputies from the Special Standing Commission for Women and two technical advisers to the Technical Services Department of the Legislative Assembly); and the non-governmental organization “Feminist Network for Non-violence against Women”, which examined the shortcomings of the current Act with a view to preparing a new draft text. The draft includes innovative amendments aimed at establishing accessible remedies, such as the explicit prohibition in examining evidence to consider the record of complainants, particularly in relation to the expression of their sexuality, so as not to further victimize complainants, and the limitation placed on conciliation in view of the inequality between the parties. It also provides for the intervention of the Ministry of Labour and the Office of the Defender, and provides that evidence shall be evaluated in accordance with the rules of sound judgement and, in the absence of direct evidence, reference shall be made to circumstantial evidence, along with other principles which emerged in the examination of problems in the application of the existing Act. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide information on the adoption of this draft legislation and on its impact in practice.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.