CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the attached documents.

1.  Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with satisfaction the letter from the President of the National Labour Office of 19 November 1996, attached to the report, sent to the regional employment offices ordering the elimination of any discrimination among jobseekers on the basis of sex and, particularly, the abolition of separate counters for men and women. The Committee notes that the employment offices provide their services without charge, complying with the principle of equality among jobseekers, supervised by the National Labour Bureau by means of regular inspections and subject to professional sanctions if these norms are not observed. To date, no contravention of this type has been noted, nor any complaint made on this basis. The Committee also notes the order by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of 28 December 1998 prohibiting the mention in a vacancy announcement "of any discriminatory criteria on the basis of sex, age, nationality, religion or other". The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether the "other" bases covered by this Article apply to the criteria of race, national extraction, social origin and political opinion laid down in the Convention.

2.  The Committee notes that, according to the report of the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection for the period January to December 1998 entitled "The Right to Equal Treatment", the Commissioner has received complaints from women who have been denied permission to undergo military training. The Committee notes that the Minister of National Defence replied to the Commissioner that he was taking the necessary measures to allow women to participate in active service in the military, if they so choose, as from 1999. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the follow-up given to these measures.

3.  The Committee notes with interest that, according to the 1997-98 report of the Commissioner for the Protection of Civil Rights, the Government is pursuing an active policy for promoting the rights of national minorities and, in particular, has adopted specific measures further to the closing observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), relating in particular to the education of Roma children and the collection of statistics on national minorities. It also takes note of the report prepared by the Centre for International Relations of the Institute of Public Affairs and the Sejm Commission on National and Ethnic Minorities entitled "National Minorities in Poland: Practice after 1989", on the evolution of the situation and the rights of national minorities present in Poland in accordance with this policy and under bilateral and multilateral agreements binding on Poland which highlights current problems in relation to minorities, particularly the difficulties encountered by the Roma and Ukrainians, owing to hostile public opinion. The 1997 report of the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) for Poland also illustrates that, despite the Government’s political will, the Roma communities still have genuine difficulties integrating into society. The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts, particularly in the education of Roma children and informing the public on the need to combat racism and requests it to continue supplying information on the measures taken in education and employment and the results recorded.

4.  The Committee notes that the draft law on equality of treatment between women and men is still under discussion. It requests the Government to keep it informed of developments regarding adoption of the draft and, if the law is adopted, to supply it with a copy.

5.  Finally, the Committee requests the Government to supply information on the following points which it raised in its previous comments and to which the Government has not yet replied:

(a)  information on the creation of any rapid procedures for consultation and dispute settlement in the event of dismissals of pregnant women and women on parental leave, which was mentioned in the Government’s 1995 report;

(b)  information on individual sanctions incurred by journalists for violation of the obligation laid down in section 18(2) of the Act of 29 December 1992 on radio and television to respect the public’s religious sensitivities and, in particular, the system of "Christian values";

(c)  a copy of the implementing texts of the Act of 2 December 1994 eliminating "civic behaviour" from the criteria for recruitment into the civil service and of the text amending the Order of the Council of Ministers of 8 December 1982 concerning training and job evaluation for civil servants.