CMNT_TITLE

1. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided a report in reply to its 2006 observation. It notes the observations of the General Union of Djibouti Workers (UGTD), received in August 2007 and forwarded to the Government in September 2007. The Committee requests the Government to provide a report containing precise and updated indications in reply to the observations of the UGTD and to its observation of 2006, with particular reference to the following points.

2. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Coordination of employment policy with poverty reduction. The UGTD recalls that the Government, in the context of the implementation of its general policy, planned to hold a national employment conference so that the various actors involved could make their contribution and ensure that the employment policy was more effective. However, the UGTD indicates that this national conference, which was intended to result in the adaptation of vocational training structures to the actual labour market situation and the creation of jobs through the promotion of foreign investment and the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises or industries, has still not been held. The Committee refers to its 2006 observation, in which it noted that, among the brief information provided by the Government in October 2005, reference was made to the formulation of a national employment policy and the organization of an employment conference in 2006. The Government indicated that it was on the point of completing, with ILO technical assistance, a plan of action on employment policy based on job creation and decent incomes for women and men with various components, such as the development of labour market and employment statistics, the reform of labour market administrative structures and institutions, vocational training and job creation in small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee further noted that, according to the information contained in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of 2004, the unemployment rate was 59 per cent and that over half of the persons concerned were seeking their first job. Moreover, the Committee noted that the participation of women in the labour market remained extremely limited, with an employment rate of under 35 per cent. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and up to date information on the measures taken to ensure that employment, as a key element of poverty reduction, is at the heart of macroeconomic and social policies. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved, disaggregated by category, particularly for young persons and women, through the measures adopted to improve the supply of vocational and technical training and to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. Please also report on the holding and the outcome of the national conference on employment, and on the progress achieved with the Poverty Reduction Strategy, which it has been implementing since 2001.

3. The Committee once again emphasizes the importance of establishing a system for the compilation of labour market data so that policies can be based on a precise assessment of labour market conditions. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in the compilation of employment statistics, and on the employment policy measures adopted following the establishment of the new labour market information systems.

4. Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. The UGTD indicates that, with regard to the participation of the social partners in the formulation of employment policies, the Government, in the context of the national employment policy, has given priority to a concerted approach with the involvement of employers’ and workers’ organizations in the various commissions responsible for implementing this national strategy. The Committee recalls that 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 2004 General Survey on promoting employment). The Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the consultations required by Article 3 of the Convention, which involve the consultation of representatives of all the persons affected, in particular representatives of employers and workers, in the formulation and implementation of employment policies.

5. Part V of the report form. ILO technical assistance. Finally, the Committee once again requests the Government to describe in its next report the action taken to implement an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention following the technical assistance received from the ILO.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2008.]