Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Libya (Ratification: 1961)

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest, from the Government's report (received in June 1989), that following the recommendations made by the committee set up to study international labour Conventions and the comments made by the supervisory bodies on the application of these Conventions by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, draft legislation prohibiting any discrimination on the grounds set out in the Convention will be submitted in the near future by the legal department for its presentation to the Basic People's Congresses and its adoption. The Committee hopes that this draft legislation will be adopted in the near future and requests the Government to supply a copy of it once it is adopted.

2. With reference more specifically to women, the Government indicates in its report that it attaches particular importance to the creation of educational and vocational training establishments and to the organisation of programmes in this area aimed at the female population in order to encourage their access to training and to various occupations in the same way as the male population. It adds that 455 women students took courses in 1987 at the National Institute of Administration, and that the participation of women in the employment market increased considerably between 1970 and 1988. The Committee notes this information with interest and it also notes the Government's statement that several laws have been enacted enabling women to have access to important positions in the public administration and the magistrature and that, during the General People's Congress of 1989, a woman was appointed for the first time as Secretary-General of the Secretariat of the General Committee on Education. The Committee requests the Government to supply copies of these laws with its next report and to provide details on the measures that have been taken in practice to promote the access of women to vocational training and to various occupations, including occupations that are not traditionally occupied by women. The Committee also expresses the hope, as it did in its previous comments, that the Government will supply recent statistics showing the proportion of men and women by categories of occupations and job levels as it evolves over the years.

3. As regards the effect given by the competent People's Congresses to the provisions of Part III of the Green Book which suggest that women should be offered employment and education opportunities that are different from those of men, the Committee notes that information on the measures that have been taken in this respect has been requested from the General Secretariat of Education, and it hopes that this information will be supplied with the next report.

4. In its previous comments, the Committee also referred to paragraphs 15 and 240 of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation, where it emphasised the positive and continuous nature of the measures to be taken in pursuance of the national policy provided for in Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention, and the need for detailed information on the various aspects of this continuous action. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to supply detailed information in its next report on the measures that have been taken in practice for the effective promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment irrespective of sex, as well as of race, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, and on the results secured with regard to: (a) access to vocational training; (b) access to employment and to particular occupations; and (c) terms and conditions of employment.

5. The Committee also once again requests the Government to include in its next report details on the activities of the People's Committee for the Public Service as regards the organisation and supervision of vocational and technical guidance and training and the placement of labour. The various reports on the work of the Secretariat of the Public Service referred to in the Government's previous report have not been received.