Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

1.  Further to its observation, the Committee notes that section 28 of the Prevention of Discrimination Act No. 26 of 1997 stipulates that the Act shall not derogate from the provisions of the Equal Rights Act of 1990. Since Act No. 26 fully incorporates the provisions of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to resolve any conflict between the two Acts in a manner that would ensure that Act No. 26 would pre-empt the Equal Rights Act.

2.  The Government is requested to indicate any measures taken or envisaged to promote and supervise the application of the new Act as it relates to access to employment, access to vocational training, and conditions of work, including activities undertaken by the Chief Labour Officer. Please also supply information on court decisions based on the provisions of both Act No. 26 of 1997 and the Equal Rights Act of 1990.

3.  The Committee notes that the under-representation of women in public life and economic life and their under-representation in many of the political, administrative, and economic higher decision-making echelons, as well as their over-representation in lower, non-managerial positions in Guyanese society is mentioned in several different reports and documents, including Guyana’s report to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing (Beijing report, page 9, paragraph 2), the Government’s second periodic report on the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR/C/GUY/99/2), the concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/79/Add. 121), and the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (A/50/38, at paragraphs 616-626 and A/49/38, at paragraphs 88-125, respectively). The Committee also notes that, according to the Beijing report, where women are represented in managerial positions, they are primarily concentrated in lower and mid-level management positions. The Committee expresses its concern over this situation, and urges the Government to take measures to promote women’s access to higher-level managerial positions. The Committee requests the Government to provide information regarding measures taken or envisaged in this regard and to continue providing detailed statistics on the participation of women in public and economic life in Guyana, and to include in these statistics their representation in higher, mid-level, and low-level positions.

4.  The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government in its last report on the statistics regarding the number of apprentices certified as skilled artisans by trade discipline during 1997 and 1998, the statistics on trainees from the IDB-funded training project who commenced training in January 1997 and were certified as semi-skilled artisans, and the statistics on the number of persons trained in mechanical/electrical-related skills in each region. The Committee notes that these statistics reflect a large degree of occupational segregation on the basis of gender. The Committee urges the Government to adopt measures to ensure greater equality with regard to participation in these programmes and requests the Government to continue providing statistics on the number and gender of persons participating in and completing these programmes.

5.  According to the report, the Women’s Affairs Bureau is engaged in the implementation of projects directly targeting women, in particular the acquisition of skills and education and entrepreneurship training. The Committee requests that the Government provide information on the implementation of such projects, as well as information on projects and programmes addressing the gender-specific division of labour and providing childcare facilities, both of which affect women’s participation in the labour force.

6.  According to the Government’s initial report on the implementation of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (E/1990/5/Add. 27), indigenous peoples in Guyana suffer high rates of unemployment, and those who live in more remote areas suffer greater disadvantage because of their location. The Beijing report states that, while the average monthly income per household in Guyana as reported by the HIES was Guyana $26,298, estimates of income in Amerindian indigenous communities range from $3,000 per household to approximately $10,500 (Beijing report, at paragraph 5, page 51). Also, according to the abovementioned report, indigenous peoples in remote areas of the country are disadvantaged in terms of equal access to education, partly due to the fact that the difficult terrain affects easy access to school for the children of those rural communities. Where possible, Amerindian teachers in indigenous communities adopt a bilingual approach to education, but it is difficult to attract teachers to these less accessible locations. Noting that Amerindians are less likely than other Guyanese to have received schooling (Beijing report, at paragraph 7, page 52) and that lack of access to quality education directly affects employment opportunities, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on programmes undertaken or envisaged to improve access to and the level of education for Amerindian peoples, including information on how the Distance Education Programme for teachers in remote areas will address the educational needs of Amerindians in these areas. The Committee also requests that the Government provide information on the involvement of indigenous peoples in existing training and education programmes, as well as statistics on the participation of indigenous peoples and other ethnic groups in vocational education and training programmes and agricultural education and training programmes.

7.   Amerindian women tend to work mainly in jobs that are related to agriculture, forestry, and fishery (63.4 per cent), while their low representation in clerical jobs (1.9 per cent) conforms to the general trend of a low proportion of these women in salaried work (Beijing report, at paragraph 4.1, page 50). The Beijing report states that it is two times as likely for Amerindian women to have had no schooling than for other women in Guyana (paragraph 7, page 52). The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the education and employment figures and statistics for Amerindian women, and to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to address educational inequalities and the severe under-representation of Amerindian women in salaried work. The Committee requests specific information on the practical implementation of the strategies for improving the situation of Amerindian women that are set forth in paragraph 2.9 of page 61 of the Beijing report, including increased post-primary education within communities; the establishment of mechanisms to support existing economic activities; and the introduction of a system of regulation and monitoring of extractive industries in relation to conditions of employment.