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The Committee notes the Government’s brief report in reply to its previous comments and also the attached tables concerning the geographical distribution of labour inspection staff and the material resources available to the labour inspection services.

Articles 7 and 10 of the Convention. Adequate training for labour inspectors. The Committee notes with interest the information relating to the various forms of training given to labour inspectors by the National School of Administration between 2001 and 2009 in the context of the targets of the training plan set at an average of 50 labour inspectors per year. The Committee notes with interest that the total number of inspectors has increased considerably, from 57 in 2006 to 158 in 2008, and that the impact of this training has been to strengthen the multidisciplinary nature of their work and their capacity to carry out technical and managerial duties. In addition, the growing number of inspectors has made it possible to set up four new regional directorates and two new departmental directorates for labour inspection. The Committee further notes with interest that a workshop concerned with strengthening inspectors’ capacities in the area of fundamental principles and rights at work was held in Abidjan from 14 to 20 July 2008 by the Ministry of the Public Service and Employment with the support of the ILO programme to support the implementation of the Declaration (PAMODEC). The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply detailed information on the initial training given to inspectors for the performance of their duties, and also on any arrangements for subsequent in-service training (content, number and status of participants) aimed at improving their skills and adapting them to changes affecting the world of work, and on the impact of such training on the volume and quality of inspection activities.

Articles 3, 12, 13 and 17. Distribution of duties among the labour inspection staff. Noting that the Government has not clarified, as requested, which labour inspection officers are responsible for the performance of duties defined by the abovementioned provisions, the Committee hopes that it will not fail to provide such clarification and supply details of the results of labour inspection activities during the period covered by the next report.

Child labour. Noting the information supplied by the Government in its report on the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), according to which a national steering committee has been set up in the context of the LUTRENA project to monitor activities relating to child labour, the Committee requests the Government to supply further information on the role assigned to labour inspectors in this area.

Article 11. Material resources of the labour inspectorate. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated, including through recourse to international financial cooperation, to strengthen the material resources of the labour inspectorate, particularly the transport facilities available to inspectors for workplace inspections, and the results achieved or expected.

Article 16. Establishment of a registry of industrial and commercial workplaces liable to inspection with a view to the planning of inspection visits. The Committee notes that the national registry of workplaces which was due to be drawn up and evaluated by the National Institute of Statistics is still not available. So that the labour inspectorate is able to fulfil its socio-economic mission, it is essential that the central inspection authority has up to date information on the geographical distribution and number of workplaces, the work carried out there and the number of workers employed. This information is necessary to determine the budget for its operation and for the establishment of priorities for action, taking account of the economic situation and other priorities of the country. Emphasizing the usefulness of a registry of workplaces for the planning of routine inspections in workplaces liable to inspection with a view to ensuring inspection visits as frequently as possible and not only as follow-up to complaints, the Committee firmly encourages the Government to make every effort to establish such a registry as soon as possible and make data available to all labour inspectors enabling the identification of the workplaces coming within their competence. It therefore requests the Government once again to supply information on the measures taken to this end, the progress made and any difficulties encountered.

Articles 20 and 21. Annual labour inspection report. The Committee requests the Government to take steps to strengthen human resources and structures for labour inspection as referred to in its report, to ensure that an annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate is published in the very near future and a copy sent to the ILO. In this respect, it draws the Government’s attention to the guidance given by Paragraph 9 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), as regards the presentation and level of detail of information which the authority should supply in such a report.