Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Eswatini (Ratification: 1981)

Article 2 of the Convention. Equality of opportunity and treatment on the basis of race, colour and national extraction. For a number of years, the Committee has been asking the Government to provide information on the labour market and employment situation of certain ethnic minorities in Swaziland, in particular the Zulu from the former KwaZula-Natal and the Tonga. The Committee regrets to note that the Government has once again failed to provide the requested information and merely refers to the provisions relating to citizenship in the Constitution of Swaziland, namely that all Swazi born in or outside Swaziland are citizens of the country and cannot be discriminated against on the basis of race, colour and national extraction. The Committee reminds the Government that the Convention protects both citizens and non-citizens against discrimination on the basis of all the grounds enumerated in the Convention, including race, colour and national extraction. The Government is obliged under the Convention to declare and pursue a national policy on equality of opportunity and treatment with respect to all the grounds covered by Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, and to take active measures to implement that policy in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee urges the Government to provide full particulars in its next report on the following:

(a)   the employment situation of the ethnic minorities in the country, particularly the Zulu from the former KwaZula-Natal and the Tonga;

(b)   the concrete measures taken or envisaged to protect citizens and non-citizens in law and in practice against discrimination based on race, colour and national extraction in employment and occupation.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.