Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Sudan (Ratification: 1970)

The Committee notes that the Government's report, while providing statistics on the number of men and women graduates from universities and higher institutes in 1991-92, nevertheless contains no reply to its comments. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the statistics supplied concerning the number of regional vocational training centres, the disciplines taught, the numbers of apprenticeship certificates awarded and occupational tests carried out in 1992, as well as the Government's statement that training is open to persons of both sexes. The Committee would point out, however, that it had requested statistical evidence on access to vocational training, particularly concerning a breakdown of participants by sex and origin, with a view to being able to assess the implementation of the national policy of non-discrimination in practice. Referring to paragraph 247 of its 1988 General Survey on Equal Opportunity in Employment and Occupation, the Committee stresses the importance of having available statistical analyses of the distribution of labour in the national economy so as to identify de facto discrimination through, for example, occupational segregation based on sex, religion or race. Accordingly, it would repeat its request for detailed statistical breakdowns, by sex and religion, of participants in the various vocational training centres.

2. The Committee notes from the Government's report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UN document CERD/C/222/Add.1 of 11 February 1993) that questions of racial divisions and racial superiority or inferiority have become less important because most of the population in the northern and central parts of Sudan is the result of fusion between Arabs and Africans, and that there are penal sanctions prescribed under section 64 of the Penal Code where any group of persons disturbs communal peace and harmony on the basis of racial and ethnic prejudices. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any cases presented to the courts - particularly the labour courts - involving discrimination in employment on the basis of race.

3. The Committee notes from the same report that, as a sign of national integration, the personnel composing national courts and tribunals are appointed irrespective of sex, race, national origin or religion. It requests the Government to provide details of the racial composition of the courts, tribunals and police forces of the country and to provide details of the measures taken or contemplated by the Government to facilitate access of persons of non-Arabic extraction to posts in the judicial system.

4. The Committee notes from the Government's report to the CERD that the Passports and Immigrations Act, 1970, appears to require additional conditions to be met by women who wish to travel abroad, due, according to the Government, to "their physiological weaknesses". The Committee asks the Government to indicate these additional requirements and how they affect women's access to education, training or employment which might require foreign travel. Please supply a copy of the relevant legislative provisions.

5. The Committee notes the Government's statement that instructions had been issued requiring women in public posts to wear apparel in conformity with the Shariah, but that no measure of any sort has been taken against persons disobeying those instructions since there is no legislative basis upon which to base any such punishment and that, since no law has been adopted on the subject, "the freedom of women remains authorized within the limits of the law". The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of the instructions in question.

6. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply a copy of the Public Service Law, 1991, with its next report.