Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1980)

1. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report in reply to its previous direct request, in particular that, since recruitment procedures have been liberalized following the implementation of the structural adjustment programme, the Presidential Order organizing the placement of workers and the supervision of employment is no longer applied.

2. Regarding the draft Labour Code, the Committee notes with interest that the new section 111 amends the former section 82 bringing it into line with the principle of equal remuneration set out in the Convention, namely that in future the comparison will go beyond "identical or similar" work to cover work of equal "value". The Committee observes that the current draft Code does not provide for specific sanctions for violations of the principle of equal remuneration between men and women for work of equal value. Nevertheless, new section 274(a) represents an improvement over former section 181 in that it stipulates that violations which are not punished with specific penalties will be subject to a fine of 5,000 francs and repeated offences will involve fines of 10,000 to 50,000 francs. Since the text has not yet been adopted, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the suggestion contained in the Committee's previous comments to the effect that it would be desirable, during the next revision of the labour legislation, to introduce specific sanctions for any violation by employers of the principles laid down in the Convention. Finally, the Committee asks the Government to inform it of the adoption of the draft Labour Code and to send a copy of the final text.

3. Noting the Government's commitment to ensure the implementation of the Presidential Circular warning employers who treat women in a discriminatory manner, particularly with regard to the payment of certain allowances, the Committee hopes that the Government's next report will contain information on the role played by the labour inspection services and by the courts in this regard. It would also like to have statistics on the violations of Order No. 221/09 of 3 May 1976 respecting occupational categories, the corresponding minimum wages and seniority allowances -- in so far as they relate to the application of the principle of equal remuneration between men and women -- and a copy of the wage scales applicable in the public service. While taking due note of the Government's statement that it does not possess the data requested by the Committee (distribution of men and women at the different levels of responsibility in the public service; average real earnings of men and women in the private sector by occupation, sector, seniority and skill level), but that it will endeavour to work on getting them, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the possibility available to it to call on the technical expertise of the Office in this domain, if it so wishes.

4. Finally, the Committee asks the Government to inform it of progress made with the job appraisal system in the public sector in the context of the administrative reform project, referred to in the Government's previous reports.