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Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Côte d'Ivoire (RATIFICATION: 1999)

Effective implementation of the provisions of the Convention. The Committee notes the information supplied in the Government’s report received in June 2010, in reply to the direct request of 2007. The Government indicates that eight draft decrees have been prepared and submitted for signature to enable the application of the Framework Act of 10 November 1998 in favour of persons with disabilities. The Committee notes that the process for the signature of these draft decrees is still in progress owing to the socio-political instability experienced by the country. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the progress achieved in the effective implementation of the draft decrees implementing the Act of 10 November 1998, in order to ensure effective application of the provisions of the Convention.

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Adoption and periodic review of a national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. The Government indicates that the document concerning the national policy for persons with disabilities has been drawn up, finalized and is awaiting validation before its adoption and implementation. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position in its next report to supply information on the progress achieved in implementing the document on the national policy for persons with disabilities. It also requests the Government to provide further information on vocational rehabilitation and employment programmes and their results, in terms of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The Committee trusts that the Government will be in a position in its next report to provide relevant, up-to-date information on the application of the Convention in practice, including, for example, statistics, extracts from reports and studies or inquiries on the matters covered by the Convention (Part V of the report form).

Article 4. Equality of opportunities and treatment. The Government indicates that, with regard to wages for workers with disabilities compared with those of other workers, no data relating to the private sector are available. The Government points out that the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire took part in the preparation of a draft decree on the employment of persons with disabilities but that private enterprises showed some reluctance to employ persons with disabilities, while never referring to disability as the reason for refusal to recruit. As regards the public sector, wages for persons with disabilities recruited on the basis of an exemption, currently numbering 667 persons, depend on the various salary scales existing in the public service. The Government considers that the available information does not point to any discrimination in the area. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether special positive measures are contemplated, particularly in the private sector, to ensure equality of opportunity between persons with disabilities and other workers. As regards the issue of equality of treatment in wages between persons with disabilities and other workers, the Government states that the adoption of the decree concerning employment for persons with disabilities in relation to Framework Act No. 98-594 (section 14) might represent the beginnings of a solution, in as much as it stipulates that wages for the recipients of compulsory employment measures may not be less than those resulting from legal or regulatory provisions or from the collective labour agreement or accord. However, where the occupational output of the persons concerned is manifestly reduced, reductions in wages may be authorized according to conditions laid down by regulation. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to indicate how equality of treatment is ensured, particularly regarding wages for persons with disabilities and other workers, by providing specific information on any regulation implementing section 14 of the abovementioned Decree, particularly in its part dealing with exemptions.

Article 5. Consultation of the social partners. The Government indicates that, since the establishment in 2003 of the Directorate for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities (DPPH), cooperation with the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire and structures for the support of persons with disabilities have improved substantially. The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply information on the manner in which the representative employers’ and workers’ organizations participate in the consultations required by the Convention. It also requests the Government to indicate whether the representative organizations of or for disabled persons are consulted in practice regarding the implementation of a vocational rehabilitation and employment policy for persons with disabilities.

Article 8. Services in rural areas. The Government indicates that the community rehabilitation programme in seven localities was effective from 1990 to 1996 but since then has been discontinued for lack of funds and will resume in 2011. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on the progress achieved with regard to the revival of the community rehabilitation programme and to describe the measures taken in the context of this programme to promote the establishment and development of vocational rehabilitation and employment services for persons with disabilities in rural areas and remote communities.

Article 9. Training of suitably qualified staff. The Government indicates that the task of training trainers has been assigned to the National Social Training Institute (INFS); 225 specialist instructors and 61 special education teachers have been trained in methods and techniques for the care of persons with disabilities. The Government also states that, with regard to in-service training for social workers, only the reinforcement of staff capacities in the areas of sign language and Braille script at the Ivorian School for the Deaf (ECIS) and the Ivorian National Institute for the Blind (INIPA) is taken care of by the Directorate for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply information on the measures taken to ensure that suitably qualified vocational rehabilitation staff are made available to persons with disabilities.