Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89) - Iraq (Ratification: 1967)

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. Compulsory night rest for women. The Committee notes that the current Labour Code (Act No. 71 of 27 July 1987) continues to give effect to the basic requirement of the Convention with the exception of section 83(3)(a) which exempts from the general prohibition of night work women engaged in administrative work hence exceeding the exemption possibilities set out in Article 8 of the Convention. The Committee also notes that section 78 of the new draft Labour Code, which is now being examined by the State Consultative Council, essentially reproduces the provisions of the existing Labour Code.

In this connection, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that member States are increasingly required to initiate a review process of their protective legislation aiming at the elimination of any provisions contrary to the principle of equal treatment between men and women, except those connected with maternity protection, and with due account being taken of national circumstances. This trend reflects also the growing expectation that the same standards of protection should apply to men and women alike in accordance with the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and also the widely ratified UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (to which, parenthetically, Iraq acceded in 1986).

Accordingly, the Committee invites the Government to give favourable consideration to the possibility of ratifying the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), which is not devised as a gender-specific instrument but focuses on the protection of all night workers in all branches and occupations. The Committee trusts that the Government will duly take into account the above observations in finalizing the new draft Labour Code and requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this regard.