Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report and, in particular, the statements to the effect that there is no discrimination in employment and occupation in practice or in law in Qatar. In this respect, the Committee recalls paragraphs 240 and 241 of the General Survey on equality in employment and occupation of 1988 which states that it is difficult to accept such a statement in so far as the promotion of equality and opportunity of treatment does not aim at a stable situation that may be attained once and for all, but is rather a permanent process that no country, however developed it may be in that respect, can boast to have fully attained. The Committee has, in fact, noted that: (a) once rigorous action against discrimination in employment and occupation gets under way, the existence of problems will in practice be brought to the surface, thus opening the way for further progress; and also (b) when a country has succeeded in eliminating certain factors of discrimination, others may appear and create new difficulties. The Committee is therefore bound to draw the Government's attention to the fact that, while the absence of laws or administrative measures explicitly giving rise to inequalities can be considered as an indicator of the Government's will not to practice discrimination, it does not go far enough to satisfy the obligations of the Convention to eliminate all discrimination. Certain forms of discrimination do not, in the main, originate from a desire to discriminate or from legal provisions or rulings, but from behaviour patterns, attitudes and prejudices (based, for example, on race, national extraction, social origin or sex) which should be the subject of measures taken in applying the national policy. Hence, the importance of formulating a national policy of equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation as set out in Article 2 of the Convention, in addition to the statement of the principle of equality laid down in the organic law of the State.

2. Discrimination on the basis of political opinion. The Committee recalls that, in its 1994 report, the Government had indicated that it was examining the question of incorporating in a legal text the prohibition against all discrimination based on political opinion, and again requests the Government to inform it of the opinion issued by the competent authorities on this point.

3. Discrimination on the basis of sex. The Committee notes that certain vocational training, because of its dangerous nature or the physical effort required, is restricted to men and that, according to the information received by the Committee, the training made available to women steers women towards careers in traditionally female sectors (typists, secretaries, office workers, accountants, etc.) and it requests the Government to provide a list of jobs which are strictly prohibited to women. The Committee recalls that vocational guidance and training assumes a role of fundamental importance in so far as it conditions the real opportunities of access to employment and occupation. It again requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged within the framework of its efforts to provide the same diversity of teaching for girls as for boys, to ensure that the bodies responsible for vocational guidance and training offer women a broad choice of professions which are not based on the stereotypes that restrict professions or occupations to members of one sex, in order to encourage a real policy of promoting equality of opportunity.

4. As regards the access of women to employment, the Committee notes that, in November 1996, a woman was appointed as Deputy Minister of Education and Culture and that four departments of the Ministry of Justice are managed by women jurists. The Committee noted that the statistics provided by the Government show a year-by-year increase in the number of women employees in various sectors of the economy, such as the medical services, teaching, commerce and administration, as well as the number of women students in technical faculties. The Committee, nevertheless, notes that this increase does not appear to include the legal profession and is compelled to reiterate the suggestion made in its previous comment, namely that the Government take concrete measures to create favourable conditions to encourage women to take up professional jobs, not only in the legal field, but in jobs which have traditionally been occupied by men. On a more general note, the Committee again wishes to draw the Government's attention to the need to formulate and promote, in an explicit and unequivocal manner, a real policy of non-discrimination for women in employment. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide it with a copy of the recommendations adopted at the Conference on women and the labour market held in Qatar in 1997, and to inform the Committee of the status of their application as well as the results obtained.

5. Finally, the Committee welcomes the fact that the Public Service Bill currently under discussion repeals section 82 of the Public Service Act, which authorized the termination of the employment contract of nurses in the fifth month of their pregnancy, and request the Government to inform it when the draft text is adopted in its definitive version and to provide the Committee with a copy of the text.