Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Burkina Faso (Ratification: 1962)

With reference to its previous direct requests, the Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government and of the texts of the new Constitution adopted on 11 June 1991 and of the preliminary draft Labour Code which were annexed.

1. The Committee notes that sections 237 and 238 of the preliminary draft Code do not provide for sanctions against persons violating section 1 (3)'s prohibition of discrimination. It asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to punish infringements of the principle of non-discrimination.

2. As regards recruitment in the public service and its specialized bodies, the Committee notes that the Government undertakes to take the necessary measures to bring all the provisions of the General Regulations on the Public Service into conformity with the Convention but that, for specific reasons linked to the exercise of certain occupations, some particular Regulations permit exceptional derogations (police, officers in the water and forestry service where physical aptitude is required). The Committee asks the Government to communicate a copy of the special Regulations adopted under section 17 of the General Regulations on the Public Service (Zatu of 26 October 1988).

3. As regards vocational training and guidance for women, the Committee notes the efforts made by the Government to encourage women's access to technical training and to trades and occupations previously reserved for men (for example, higher public service, electricity, electronics, medicine). It asks the Government to supply details permitting an appreciation to be made of the practical application of the principle of the Convention, in particular statistics, disaggregated by sex, on the number of public servants and of private undertakings employing a large number of women and indicating the percentage of women as against men at the different levels of responsibility. Noting that the Government is doing its utmost to encourage girls to undertake technical training by facilitating the creation of technical institutions, it would also like to receive statistical information on the pupils and students, disaggregated by sex, attending general educational institutions and technical and vocational institutions, whether private or public or at secondary or higher level, as well as on the specific measures taken or contemplated to facilitate the training and employment of women especially in trades traditionally reserved for men, and on the results obtained. It asks the Government to refer in this respect to paragraph 247 of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation, where it indicates that improvement in the means available for compiling information on direct and indirect discrimination based for example on race, colour or sex is indispensable if progress is to be made in the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment.