Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report and the information concerning the manner in which discrimination on the basis of colour is prohibited.

2. Regarding the information supplied by the Government in respect of national extraction, the Committee notes that the Government refers to foreigners and recalls that the concept of natural extraction does not refer to distinctions that may have been made between the citizens of one country and those of another, but to distinctions between the citizens of the same country on the basis of a person's place of birth, ancestry or foreign origin (see paragraphs 33 and 34 of the Special Survey on equality in employment and occupation, 1996). The Committee therefore requests that, in its next report, the Government will provide information on the manner in which the principle of the Convention is promoted without discrimination on the basis of national extraction, as indicated.

3. With respect to its previous comments, the Committee considers that a full reply has not been given to the questions raised in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the 1998 direct request, which read as follows:

2. The Committee notes the statistical data provided by the Government showing the distribution in 1997 of men and women in various sectors of the economy. The figures provided show that women make up 36 per cent of the total workforce. Men outnumber women in every sector of industry, with the exception of the communal, social and personal services sector, where women constitute 55 per cent of the workforce. Men predominate in certain traditionally "masculine" industries, such as construction (96 per cent) and mining (96 per cent), but also in industries such as manufacturing (71 per cent) and transportation/communications (88 per cent). While women outnumber men at the professional/technical levels (57 per cent), they are underrepresented at the higher levels of the public sector (24.5 per cent). The Government is asked to provide information in its next report regarding the practical methods by which the non-discrimination policy of the Convention is being implemented in respect of access to vocational training, access to employment and to particular occupations and terms and conditions of employment, including organizing employment-related vocational and technical training courses, seminars and placement activities to improve the position of women in the labour market and to broaden their occupational opportunities.

3. Further to its previous comments, the Committee again asks the Government to provide information regarding the activities of the Labour Inspectorate in promoting and securing the application of the principle of the Convention, including the number of inspections carried out in relation to discrimination in employment, the number of violations reported, the penalties imposed and copies of any relevant court decisions.