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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1963)

Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women. The Committee notes that the Ministry for Social Affairs, Children and Family, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), published an in depth study on women’s access to productive resources in December 2009. According to this study, the status of women is still extremely precarious in terms of access to the country’s economic resources and in the sector of remunerated employment. In 2006, only 12.4 per cent of the active population, either working or having worked, were in paid employment, and 78.8 per cent of women were working without being paid. The study noted that there was occupational segregation, both horizontal and vertical, and that women found it difficult to have access to loans and land ownership; it emphasized the sociological obstacles and social prejudices preventing women from working. Noting this information, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to promote equality between women and men with respect to access to productive resources, including steps to overcome stereotypes and prejudices regarding women’s capabilities and professional aspirations.

Referring more generally to women’s access to employment, the Committee reiterates its previous comments in which it urged the Government to take appropriate measures to promote women’s access to a wider range of jobs, particularly those traditionally occupied by men, and requested it to provide the following:

• (i) detailed information on the application of these measures and on their impact on women’s employment;
• (ii) statistics on the distribution of women and men in the different economic sectors, categories of employment or occupation and posts;
• (iii) information on the implementation of the “national strategy for the promotion of women” and its impact on the application of the principle of the Convention; and
• (iv) information on the application of strategies to involve women in decision-making envisaged in the “Plan of action for the promotion of human rights” and also on any other initiative relating to the application of the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women implemented in this context.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any information in reply to its comments on the following points.

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Sexual harassment. Referring to its previous comments on the preparation of a legal instrument prohibiting sexual harassment, the Committee had noted the Government’s statement in its previous report to the effect that “sexual harassment is unknown in the customs and traditions of Mauritania”. It had nevertheless noted that the 2007–08 report of the National Committee on Human Rights had emphasized the proliferation of cases of sexual violence against women, and that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations, had expressed its concern that women’s access to justice was limited by a number of factors such as illiteracy, legal costs and lack of information about their rights (CEDAW/C/MRT/CO/1, 11 June 2007, paragraph 15). Finally, the Committee had noted that the Government wished to receive technical assistance from the Office to prepare a legal instrument prohibiting sexual harassment in employment and occupation. Referring to its general observation of 2002 on sexual harassment, the Committee requests the Government once again to:

• (i) take steps to draw up regulations prohibiting sexual harassment in employment and occupation, and to take the necessary steps to obtain technical assistance from the Office in this regard;
• (ii) provide information on any cases of harassment detected by the labour inspection services or reported to it, and on the follow-up to these cases; and
• (iii) take all necessary measures to promote women’s access to justice, including measures to provide women with a better knowledge of their rights and of the legal procedures available to them.

Article 3(a) Cooperation with the social partners. The Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the specific activities undertaken by the National Tripartite Council for Labour, Employment and Social Security in order to promote equality of opportunity, and on the measures taken to facilitate dialogue on matters related to non-discrimination in employment and occupation.

Article 3(d). Application of the Convention in the public service. In its previous comment, the Committee noted the Government’s indications that the prohibition on recruiting any person deemed to be of unsound moral character to the post of public official or employee, in accordance with sections 6(2) and 110(2) of Act No. 93-09 of 18 January 1993, applied to candidates who had been convicted of serious offences. The Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the application of these provisions in practice, including cases of the non-recruitment of candidates deemed to be of unsound moral character, and on court decisions applying this principle. Furthermore, the Committee asks the Government once again:

• (i) to indicate how, in practice, state officials and employees are protected against discrimination in employment and occupation, on the basis of all the grounds covered by the Convention, including colour, religion, national extraction and social origin;
• (ii) to clarify whether the term “opinion”, as used in sections 15 and 105 of Act No. 93-09, covers the concept of political opinion under the Convention; and
• (iii) provide examples of cases or decisions taken by the Disciplinary Council on this subject.