Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Maternity Protection Convention, 1919 (No. 3) - Gabon (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to previous comments. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

In its previous comments, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the need to take the necessary legal measures to guarantee that women are not allowed to work for a period of six weeks after confinement, in accordance with Article 3(a) of the Convention. In its reply, the Government considers that, given that section 171 of the Labour Code simply allows women employees the option of returning to work to meet financial difficulties, for example, it does not violate the spirit of the Convention. The Committee is nevertheless bound to recall that the compulsory character of the postnatal maternity leave established in this provision of the Convention affords protection that supplements the right to leave, the aim being to prevent pressure or offers of material gain from inducing the worker to resume employment before the end of the legal period of postnatal leave, to the detriment of her health or that of her child. The Committee trusts that, in view of the above, the Government will soon take the measures required to bring the national legislation into full conformity with Article 3(a) of the Convention.