Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Unemployment Convention, 1919 (No. 2) - Montenegro (Ratification: 2006)

The Committee notes the Government’s first report on the application of the Convention received in August 2009. The Committee refers to its comments made under the Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88), and the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), for a more detailed analysis of the Montenegrin active employment policy to combat unemployment, including the activities carried out by the National Employment Agency of Montenegro.

Article 2(2) of the Convention. Coordination of the activities of public and private employment services. The Committee notes that the Employment Act regulates the coordination of the activities of public and private employment agencies. The Government reports that there are nine registered free private agencies in Montenegro that carry out intermediation services. It indicates that within the 2009 Government Work Programme, it was proposed to ratify the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), which would harmonize the work and scope of the public employment service and private agencies. In its 2010 General Survey on employment instruments, the Committee recalled the historical background in which Convention No. 2 was adopted and indicated that the Convention recognizes the existence of private free employment agencies and requires member States to coordinate the operations of private and public agencies on a national scale (paragraph 188). The Committee notes that the most recent international labour standards, such as Conventions Nos 88 and 122, have already been ratified by Montenegro. As Convention No. 88, Convention No. 181, recognizes the role played by public employment services and private employment agencies to achieve an optimal labour market functioning and thus the realization of the right to work. The Committee therefore invites the Government to provide in its next report on Convention No. 2 information on the follow-up regarding the ratification of the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), and any other steps taken as a means of coordinating the activities of public and private employment services with a view to combating unemployment.