Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2010, publiée 100ème session CIT (2011)

Access to the public service. Legislation. For a number of years the Committee has been asking the Government to take the necessary steps to revise section 14(2) of Act No 92-570 of 11 September 1992 issuing the General Public Service Regulations in order to bring it into conformity with the Convention. This section states that specific arrangements may be made, on account of physical fitness or constraints inherent in certain functions, to reserve access to the public service for candidates of either sex. While noting that it was not the Government’s intention at the outset to create gender discrimination, the Committee considers that this provision, which constitutes an exemption from section 14(1) of the Regulations prohibiting any distinction between the sexes, enables access to certain posts to be reserved for either men or women. It also considers that the criterion of “physical fitness” expressed in general terms runs the risk of limiting access to the public service for women, who account for only 27 per cent of staff numbers, according to the data supplied by the Government. The Committee recalls that, in order to be non-discriminatory within the meaning of Article 1(2) of the Convention, exceptions must be strictly limited to certain particular jobs and based on the inherent requirements thereof. Noting the Government’s indication that the removal of section 14(2) of the General Public Service Regulations might form part of a possible overall revision of those Regulations, the Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to amend this provision in order to bring it into conformity with the Convention. Pending such a revision, it requests the Government to provide information on the application of section 14(2) in practice, stating the posts and duties concerned and also its impact on the employment of women in the public service.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.