CMNT_TITLE

1. The Committee notes with interest the development of the seventh five-year development plan for the period 1996-2000, which has as one of its objectives the provision of women's participation in every field of social life as individuals, and of which equal status is the fundamental principle, and states that measures will be taken to improve women's status in the fields of education, health, working life, social security and employment, and to remove existing inequalities. With regard to the arrangements foreseen concerning the legal and institutional framework, the Committee notes from the combined second and third periodic country report of Turkey to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), that an academic Commission was formed with a view to completing a draft civil law with regard to equality of treatment of women. It also notes the statement of the Turkish delegation to CEDAW that all discriminatory clauses are under review including section 17/1a of the Labour Code, under which the employer has the right to terminate a female worker's contract without notice at the end of the paid maternity leave. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the status of the law revision.

2. The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report to CEDAW that gender equality in education has a direct impact on opportunities and patterns of women's employment. It notes that, according to the report, the persistent problems with regard to employment of women can be summarized as follows: (1) the rate of women's participation in the workforce is low and shows a decrease from 34 per cent in 1990 to 30 per cent in 1995; (2) the vast majority of the women in the workforce are in the agricultural sector working as unpaid family workers; (3) women's employment in the non-agricultural and non-rural sectors is highly marginal not only quantatively, but also in terms of their concentration in areas of work which may be considered as appropriate female tasks, such as textiles, food industry and the like; (4) urban unemployment rates for women is more than double that of men; (5) the urban informal sector provides the greatest work opportunity for women of low income households, which means that women are by and large excluded from the legal and social protection and benefits available in the formal sector.

3. The Committee notes from the report to CEDAW the efforts undertaken by the Government to address some of the problems enumerated, through, inter alia, credit allocation, revision of legislation, improving vocational training, as well as the activities carried out within the framework of the Employment and Education Project carried out by the Turkish Employment Agency. It requests the Government to continue to inform it of progress made in this regard, and provide it with the booklet on the Employment and Education Project which, although indicated, was not appended to the report. In relation with this, the Committee notes from the CEDAW report the establishment in 1993 of the Department of Statistics on Social Structure and Women, and requests the Government to provide it with statistics on women's participation in the workforce and education so as to be better able to analyse the progress made.

4. The Committee notes that the Government's report is silent on the issue of appointment of women to high administrative posts and must therefore again request the Government to continue to inform it of the measures taken to improve the equal access of women to positions of responsibility in the administration.

5. The Committee notes the Government's statements that according to its national legislation and to the international agreements to which Turkey is a party, there are no "ethnic minorities", the definition of "minority" only refers to Jews, Armenians and Orthodox Greeks, as recognized under the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, and that, whether a Turkish citizen belongs to a religious minority or not, all citizens in Turkey enjoy the same rights and freedoms as regards employment, occupation and equality before the law. With specific reference to the grounds of discrimination on the basis of race, national extraction and colour as contained in Article 1(a) of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for groups such as the Kurds.

6. The Committee notes that, under sections (31), (32) and (33) of the 1979 Discipline Rules Pertaining to the Police Force provided by the Government, officers of the police force are prohibited, under penalty of discharge from the force, from participating in any outdoor meetings or demonstration marches which are organized for political purposes, any outdoor or indoor meetings or demonstration marches which are neither scientific, cultural or technical in nature and which are organized by trade unions or by associations of which one is not a member, and from founding an association or joining associations other than sports associations or founding an association other than the Foundation for Strengthening the Turkish Police Force or taking office in the organs of other foundations. In this respect, the Committee recalls its 1996 Special Survey on equality in employment and occupation in which it stated that in cases in which the ground of political opinion is taken into consideration as a prerequisite for a given job, it should be objectively examined, under judicial scrutiny, to determine if this prerequisite is really justified by the inherent requirements of the job. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of the said paragraphs, including how the concept of the inherent requirements of the job is safeguarded when said paragraphs are applied.