Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89) - Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its first two detailed reports. It notes, in particular, that following the amendments to the Labour Law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation No. 43/99) introduced in 2000, section 35 which gave effect to most of the provisions of the Convention was repealed. It also notes that the Labour Law of the Republika Srpska (Official Gazette of the Republic No. 38/00) contains no general prohibition against women’s night work except for pregnant women as from the sixth month of pregnancy and nursing mothers of a child up to one year of age, the compulsory daily rest period being limited in this case to eight consecutive hours. In addition, both labour laws prohibit the employment during the night of young persons under 18 years of age. The Committee is therefore bound to conclude that the Convention has for all practical purposes ceased to apply in both entities.

The Committee takes this opportunity to draw the Government’s attention to paragraphs 191 to 202 of the General Survey of 2001 on the night work of women in industry in which the Committee, referring to the present-day relevance of the ILO instruments on women’s night work, concluded that there can be no doubt that the present trend is clearly in favour of lifting all restrictions on women’s night work and formulating gender-sensitive night work regulations offering safety and health protection to both men and women. It also noted that many countries are in the process of easing or eliminating legal restrictions on women’s employment during the night with the aim of improving women’s opportunities in employment and strengthening non-discrimination. The Committee further recalled that member States are under an obligation to review periodically their protective legislation in light of scientific and technological knowledge with a view to revising all gender-specific provisions and discriminatory constraints. This obligation stems from Article 11(3) of the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (to which parenthetically Bosnia and Herzegovina is a party since 1993), as later reaffirmed in point 5(b) of the 1985 ILO Resolution on equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women in employment.

More concretely, the Committee considered that the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), was drafted for those countries which would be prepared to eliminate all women-specific restrictions on night work (except for those aimed at protecting women’s reproductive and infant-nursing role) while seeking to improve the working and living conditions of all night workers.

Considering, therefore, that effect is no longer given to the Convention in either law or practice, and also recalling the need for an appropriate legal framework addressing the problems and hazards of night work in general, the Committee invites the Government to give favourable consideration to the ratification of the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), which shifts the emphasis from a specific category of workers and sector of economic activity to the safety and health protection of night workers irrespective of gender in nearly all branches and occupations. The Committee accordingly asks the Government to keep the Office informed of any decision which might be taken, in this regard, in full consultation with its social partners.