Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Netherlands (Ratification: 1973)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report and attached documentation.

1. The Committee notes with interest that, as a result of increased publicity, the first year of operation of the Reparation Act saw a substantial increase in the number of requests for advice made to the Commission on Equal Treatment for Men and Women in Employment. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to furnish information concerning the activities of the Commission. Noting that the majority of these requests concerned group action, the Committee requests the Government to provide details on any cases in which this action is instituted, pursuant to section 20(a) of the above-mentioned Act.

2. The Committee notes with interest that an amendment to the Stevedores Act, which lifted the ban on women working as stevedores, was due to come into force in 1991; and that amendments would accordingly be made to the relevant safety and working-time provisions governing stevedores.

3. The Committee notes from the statistics provided by the Government that between 1986 and 1988 the participation of women increased slightly in central Government (from 24.4. to 25.7 per cent) in local government (28.3 to 30.5 per cent) and in the police service (5.8 to 6.7 per cent); and remained stable in education (at 44.7 per cent). The Committee recalls that in an earlier report (for the period July 1984 to June 1986) the Government referred to parliamentary proposals to increase women's employment rate in the public service which were being discussed between the Government and representatives of civil servants. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether these proposals were pursued or whether consideration is being given to other measures to promote the employment and retention of women in the public sector.

4. The Committee notes with interest the measures taken - in particular by the National Office for the Prevention of Racial Discrimination (LBR) - to combat racial discrimination in the labour market which include: an examination of the personnel policies of municipalities, with a view to encouraging them to bring the number of immigrants they employ into proportion with the number of immigrants in the population of the municipality; advice and assistance to municipalities in this regard; a study on the position of immigrants in small- and medium-sized companies which indicated that immigrants are strongly under-represented in the workforce; and, in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute of Psychologists, setting up a procedure to screen the 20 psychological tests most commonly used in selection procedures for jobs and training courses for cultural bias and culture-specific or racists items.

The Committee also notes that, pursuant to the submission to Parliament of the plan "The Employment of Ethnic Minorities", various measures have been taken to facilitate the access to employment of minority groups viz: the target figure for the so-called 1,000-job plan for Moluccans, which was raised to 1,200, is expected to be reached by October 1991; a positive action plan has been introduced by the police corps and a similar plan, with target figures of 1 per cent for the intake of regulars into the different services of the armed forces, was expected to come into force after parliamentary debate.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to provide information on the results of these various initiatives and to furnish any relevant documentation, including a copy, when available, of the Code of Conduct aimed at eliminating racial discrimination by employment agencies (ABU-Code).

5. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes with interest that for the period May 1988 to July 1990, 83 organisations availed themselves of the subsidy scheme established to pay for certain expenses in drawing up positive action programmes for women in disadvantaged situations. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the outcome of the scheme, in particular by furnishing a copy of the final evaluation report expected to be published at the end of 1993.

6. The Committee notes with interest that the Directorate General for Manpower Services has introduced various initiatives to increase the participation of girls and women at technical vocational training centres, including the development of information activities specifically aimed at women, part-time training, the provision of facilities such as child care, guidance on the special problems faced by women, and the requirement that, in 1989, a minimum of 10 per cent of places be reserved for women in these training centres. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the participation of women and girls in these courses, particularly in respect of those leading to occupations traditionally exercised by men.

7. The Committee requests the Government to provide, when enacted, a copy of the legislation supplementing the Criminal Code with provisions dealing with discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation, together with any information concerning measures for implementation.