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1. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that, subsequent to the constitutional amendments that took place in 1996, a draft Labour Code aimed at revising the 1992 Code was being re-examined. The Committee notes that the Government's report gives no information on the progress of this draft which, according to the information available to the Committee, has not yet been adopted. It therefore requests the Government to supply information on the progress of the draft revision, particularly on the difficulties encountered in respect of its final adoption. The Committee would be grateful to receive a copy of the text as finally adopted.

2. Discrimination based on sex. The Committee notes the very detailed information supplied by the Government and the preoccupying picture it draws of the situation of women workers in Belarus. In fact, according to this information, although women generally have a higher level of education than men, in practice they are engaged mainly in lower-paid employment categories and it can be seen that the level of posts occupied successively by women is tending to deteriorate. The profound economic and social changes affecting the country, particularly the drastic decrease in the number of jobs available, have encouraged men to invade the sectors, such as banking, which were previously considered typically female to the detriment of the female labour force. This competition between men and women is reflected in the level of unemployment figures; hence, as at 1 January 1999, 66.7 per cent of the total female population of Belarus was registered at employment agencies as seeking work; 85.9 per cent of unemployed people today are women; and 47.9 per cent of unemployed women are between 20 and 34 years old. According to studies, women are the first to be dismissed and the last to be taken on and they remain unemployed for longer, on average. Finally, the women most likely to encounter difficulty in the employment and occupation field are pre-retirement age women, pregnant women, mothers of young children, disabled women, mothers with large families, single mothers and new graduates without work experience.

3. The Committee notes that the Government considers that, in view of this situation, even though all workers are affected by the economic crisis, the State should pay particular attention to women and has therefore taken a number of specific measures. First, it produces a yearly public employment programme which includes a series of measures to improve women's situation on the labour market. The measures taken under these yearly programmes are varied: they range from creating additional jobs to the development of vocational guidance, broadening the scope of professional and technical training for women to adapt to the evolution of the labour market and ensuring professional competitiveness of women and, in parallel, the development of teaching of activities traditionally considered to be female, priority given by employment agencies to placing unemployed women; defining employment quotas for single mothers, women with large families, mothers of minor children and disabled children to the development of distance teaching and evening classes, etc. The Government emphasizes that in monitoring compliance with labour legislation, stress is placed on the most vulnerable women workers (pregnant women, mothers of children under 3 years old and single mothers with children aged under 14 who have been dismissed by employers as part of staff cutbacks).

4. Noting that labour statistics are a precious tool for monitoring effectively the national policy established to eliminate discrimination and improve equality in employment on the labour market of any society, and that the Government has drawn the Committee's attention to the fact that it now has national statistical tools on employment, disaggregated by sex, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would send it recent labour statistics disaggregated by sex. In particular, it would be grateful to receive statistics on the number and grade of women engaged in the civil service, particularly in high-level posts.

5. The Committee notes that following the adoption in 1994 of a resolution prohibiting the engagement of women in certain fields considered to be difficult or dangerous, 1,218 women lost their jobs in the industrial sector during the period 1995-98. While appreciating that the abovementioned provisions tend to improve these workers' working conditions, the Committee notes that the Government recognizes that this decision has caused serious concern among the women workers concerned since the decision resulted in the loss of their jobs during a period of serious economic uncertainty, and a decrease in their social benefits, particularly the level of their future pensions. The Committee therefore invites the Government to envisage the possibility of reviewing these provisions -- in consultation with the social partners and particularly women workers -- in order to decide whether it is really necessary to prohibit access of women workers to certain occupations, bearing in mind the improved working conditions and also the changes that have taken place in mental attitudes. It also draws the Government's attention to the provisions in this respect contained in: (a) the Protocol, 1990, to the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89); (b) the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), and the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995 (No. 176), along with the corresponding Recommendations; and (c) the 1985 ILO resolution on equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women in employment.

6. Discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. Noting that the Government's report provides no information on the application in practice of the Convention in regard to discrimination in employment and occupation made on criteria other than sex, the Committee once again requests the Government to supply information on the measures taken or envisaged to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in access to occupational training, employment and working conditions without prejudice as to race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

7. Noting that the Labour Inspection Committee has conducted mass inspections at plants belonging to the Ministries of Trade and Manufacturing, the Committee requests the Government to send extracts from the labour inspection reports concerning the application of the Convention in the public and private sectors.