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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 1961)

Access to the public service. Legislation. For many years the Committee has been asking the Government to take the necessary steps to revise section 14(2) of Act No. 92-570 of 11 September 1992 issuing the General Public Service Regulations in order to bring it into conformity with the Convention. The provision in question states that “specific arrangements may be made, on account of physical fitness requirements or constraints inherent in certain functions ... to reserve access [to the public service] for candidates of one or other sex”. The Committee notes in this connection the observations made by the General Confederation of Enterprises of Côte d’Ivoire, received on 15 December 2010, to the effect that the Government should take account of the Committee’s comments and section 14(2) should simply be repealed, insofar as entry to the public service is by competition which is open to candidates of both sexes. The Committee notes that, in its report, the Government acknowledges that this provision is discriminatory and expresses its commitment to repealing it as soon as the Act issuing the General Public Service Regulations is revised. The Government also states that, according to the texts in force, there are no longer any public sector jobs which are prohibited for women and the fact that women are under-represented in the public service is due not to legal obstacles but to social and cultural factors which the Government is addressing actively. While noting the Government’s undertaking to repeal section 14(2) of the Act issuing the General Public Service Regulations, the Committee observes that the Government again refers to a possible revision of the Public Service Regulations but gives no indication as to when such a process is to begin. It asks the Government to take the necessary steps to repeal, in the near future, section 14(2) of Act No. 92-570 of 11 September 1992 issuing the General Public Service Regulations, and to specify the timetable set for the revision process.

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