Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

The Committee notes the brief information received in October 2005, referring to the objectives set by the Government for the period 2000-01. The Committee is bound to reiterate its 2004 observation and requests the Government to provide a report containing up to date and detailed information on the following points.

1. Coordination of employment policy with poverty reduction. The Government once again indicates that it is on the point of completing, with ILO technical assistance, a plan of action on employment policy based on job creation and decent incomes for women and men with various components, such as the development of labour market and employment statistics, the reform of labour market administrative structures and institutions, vocational training and job creation in small and medium-sized enterprises. The Government also refers to the preparation of a national employment policy and the organization of an employment conference in 2006. The Committee further notes that, according to the information contained in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper of 2004, the unemployment rate is 59 per cent and that over half of the persons concerned are seeking their first job. Moreover, the Committee notes that the participation of women in the labour market remains extremely limited, with an unemployment rate of under 35 per cent. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and up to date information in its next report on the measures taken to ensure that employment, as a key element of poverty reduction, is at the heart of macroeconomic and social policies. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved, disaggregated by category, particularly for young persons and women, by the measures adopted to improve the supply of vocational and technical training and to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. It would also be grateful to be provided with information on the outcome of the national employment conference held in 2006 and the progress achieved with the Poverty Reduction Strategy, which it has been implementing since 2001 (Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention).

2. The Committee once again emphasizes the importance of establishing a system for the compilation of labour market data so that policies can be based on a precise assessment of labour market conditions. It once again requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this field and to supply information in its next report on the employment policy measures adopted following the establishment of new labour market information systems.

3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and application of policies. In the absence of any new information from the Government on this subject, the Committee recalls that it is the joint responsibility of the Government and the representative organizations of employers and workers to ensure that representatives of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups of the active population are associated as closely as possible with the formulation and implementation of measures of which they should be the prime beneficiaries (see paragraph 493 of the 2004 General Survey on promoting employment). The Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the consultations required by Article 3 of the Convention, which involve the consultation of representatives of all the persons affected and, in particular, representatives of employers and workers, in the formulation and implementation of employment policies.

4. ILO technical assistance. Finally, the Committee once again requests the Government to describe in its next report the actions taken to implement an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention following the technical assistance received from the ILO (Part V of the report form).