Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

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

1. The Committee notes the Government's report and the statistics that it supplied concerning equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and occupation.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to indicate the measures that it envisaged taking to promote a national policy of equality between men and women (Article 2 of the Convention) with regard to access to employment and occupation, as well as the action taken to secure the acceptance of the policy by the public in general and by employers in particular (Article 3(a) and (b)). The Committee notes the information provided by the Government to the effect that it has taken certain measures to endeavour to remedy the inequalities faced by women in employment and occupation. The Committee notes that the annual employment programme for 1995 introduces a system of quotas for the social categories the most affected by unemployment, and particularly women with dependent children, as well as their priority access to training and retraining programmes. It also notes the Government's statement that it is in the process of establishing structures at the national and local levels in the legislative and executive bodies responsible for designing, coordinating and applying a policy to improve the status of women in all aspects of their life, including employment. By way of illustration, the Government cites the case of the information and policy centre on issues of equality between men and women that has been created in the Ministry of Social Security and which is responsible for: (a) providing technical and methodological information to the authorities and the general public on gender issues; (b) promoting contacts with the appropriate national and international organizations; and (c) promoting the application of a policy of equality between men and women at the national level. The Government emphasizes that one of the major objectives of the centre is the establishment of an Equal Opportunities Commission and states that a group of experts has been appointed to support the activities of the centre and implement the results of the examination of the legislation from the point of view of equality between men and women. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the activities undertaken in relation to access to employment and occupation by the structures responsible for promoting equality between men and women in the legislative and executive bodies at the national and local levels, as well as the results achieved. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to supply it with the results of the examination carried out by the centre of the legislation from the point of view of equality between men and women, and any recommendations that it may make.

3. The Committee hopes that the Government's next report will contain information on the policies and programmes undertaken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, and the results achieved, taking into account the statistics on the ethnic composition of the country contained in United Nations document HRI/CORE/1/Add. 70 (dated 10 June 1996).

4. Finally, the Committee would be grateful to be kept informed of the adoption of the draft Labour Code, which revises the Code adopted in 1992, in relation to which the International Labour Office provided technical advice. It would also be grateful to receive a copy of the text when it has been adopted.