Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes the observations of the Association of Industrialists, annexed to the Government’s report.

Legislative prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation. For a number of years, the Committee has been encouraging the Government to take the opportunity in the context of revision of the Labour Code to introduce a comprehensive prohibition of direct and indirect discrimination in employment and occupation based on all the grounds set out in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that section 1 (definition of wage earner) of the draft Labour Law specifies “… without any discrimination whatsoever as to race, colour, sex, religion, national extraction, political opinion and social origin, which is likely to invalidate or weaken the application of the principle of equal opportunity or treatment in employment and occupation”. Draft section 35 (protection of women against discrimination) specifies that “… all legal provisions which regulate work without discrimination, or distinction in the same work shall apply to working women, with respect to wages, conditions of recruitment, promotion, and vocational training for the reasons mentioned in section 1 of this law ...”. The Committee must once again point out that the mere inclusion of a non-discrimination clause in the definition of “wage earner” does not offer effective protection against discrimination and falls short of prohibiting discrimination in employment and occupation as defined in the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to take the opportunity to insert a separate provision prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination based on at least all the grounds set out in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention with respect to all aspects of employment and occupation. The Committee asks the Government to provide detailed information on any progress made in the adoption of the draft Labour Law.

Domestic workers. For a number of years, the Committee has been following the measures taken by the Government to address the lack of legal protection of domestic workers, many of whom are female migrants, due to concerns regarding potential discrimination against these workers on the basis of sex as well as other grounds such as race, colour or ethnic origin, contrary to the Convention. The Committee recalls that “domestic servants employed in private houses” are excluded from the scope of application of the Labour Code of 1946 (section 7(1)) and that contractual relations between domestic workers and private individuals employing them to perform domestic work in their residence are governed by the Law on obligations and contracts. The Committee had previously welcomed some measures taken by the Government to improve the employment situation of female migrant domestic workers, including the establishment of a National Steering Committee (2006), Decision No. 70/1 of 9 July 2003 and Decision No. 13/1 of 22 January 2009 relating to employment agencies for foreign domestic workers, and the publication of a standard contract of employment for foreign domestic workers in 2009.

The Committee notes that section 5(1) of the draft Labour Law continues to exclude “Servants and whoever is of a similar standing performing housework and living in the homes of their employers”, from its scope of application – which would in practice largely concern foreign domestic workers due to their contractual obligation to reside in the employer’s home. The Committee also notes that a comprehensive draft Law on the regulation of domestic workers is being discussed and considers this an opportunity to improve protection of domestic workers, nationals and non-nationals, against discrimination and to regulate their working conditions in their own right. The Committee notes in this regard the Government’s decision to wait for the outcome of the deliberations on the draft ILO instruments on domestic workers in June 2011 before continuing the examination of the draft law, with a view to bringing its national legislation into conformity with international standards. Noting the adoption of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), the Committee asks the Government to review the draft Law on the regulation of domestic workers, which it hopes will include a specific provision expressly prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination of domestic workers in all aspects of their work. Please provide information on any progress made in the adoption of the draft Law.

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