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Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Fiji (RATIFICATION: 2004)

Other comments on C159

Direct Request

2022
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2007

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Articles 3 and 4 of the Convention. Implementation of a national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment for persons with disabilities. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report received in May 2011, which includes a copy of the National Policy on Persons Living with Disabilities 2008–18. The Committee notes that the National Policy approved on 4 November 2008, provides a framework to address the needs and rights of persons with disabilities and gives a voice to persons with disabilities in a wide-ranging series of consultation workshops. Its implementation is reliant upon an effective working partnership between government, representative organizations of and for persons with disabilities, NGOs and the wider community, particularly churches and the private sector. The Government indicates that the National Policy covers 12 strategic areas, which include training, employment and self-employment, as well as poverty alleviation, social security and livelihood programmes. The Government further indicates that a national Disability Baseline Survey, conducted in the 2008–09 period, was funded by the Australian High Commission, British High Commission, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare and the Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons (FNCDP). The survey identified approximately 12,000 persons with disabilities, 89 per cent of which were unemployed. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the implementation of the National Policy on Persons Living with Disabilities 2008–18 and its results with regard to the integration of persons with disabilities in the open labour market. Please also provide statistics disaggregated by sex, extracts from reports, studies and inquiries concerning the matters covered by the Convention (Part V of the report form), as well as court decisions rendered on matters relating to the application of the Convention (Part IV of the report form).

Article 5. Consultation of the representative organizations of employers and workers. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that one of the six advisory committees constituting the FNCDP deals with vocational training and employment. It also noted that the advisory committee and the district committees did not seem to include representatives from workers’ organizations. The Government indicates that the Act regulating the FNCDP will soon be undergoing a legislative review and the matter raised by the Committee could be addressed during that process. The Government further indicates that despite the irregularities with regard to workers’ representativeness in advisory committee meetings, the FNCDP is represented within the tripartite Employment Relations Advisory Board, the main body dealing with employment-related matters, including disability issues. The Committee requests the Government to include in its report information on how representatives of workers’ organizations have been consulted on the matters covered by the Convention and on the legislative review process.

Article 7. Providing and evaluating vocational training and related services. The Government indicates that the Fiji Vocational Training Centre for People with Disabilities (FVTTCPD) signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Busan Technical Centre in South Korea under the Korean Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled (KEPAD) initiatives for the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the training of persons with disabilities. The Committee also notes the measures to move persons with disabilities towards achieving gainful employment. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the activities of the FVTTCPD to enable persons with disabilities to secure, retain and advance in employment.

Articles 8 and 9. Availability of services in rural and remote areas and training of suitably qualified staff. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in the establishment and development of employment services through district committees in rural and remote areas, and on the measures taken to ensure the availability of suitable qualified vocational rehabilitation staff.