Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117) - Zambia (Ratification: 1964)

Parts I and II of the Convention. Improvement of standards of living. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2011, which includes some information in relation to its 2010 direct request. The Government indicates that, as a result of the implementation of the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) for the period 2006–10, economic growth improved, averaging 6.1 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent prior to the adoption of the FNDP. The Government also reports on the improvement in maternity and infant mortality rates as well as in education enrolment rates. According to the last demographic and health survey undertaken, adult HIV/AIDS prevalence decreased slowly between 2001 and 2007 from 16 to 14.3 per cent. In its comments on the application of the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), the Committee noted that the Government initiated the process of formulating a Sixth National Development Plan (SNDP), 2011–15. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report on Convention No. 117 information on the impact of the SNDP and other eventual plans and programmes adopted with regard to economic development policy, improving the national standard of living and poverty reduction (Article 2 of the Convention). The Committee hopes that the Government will include information from an updated living conditions monitoring survey (LCMS) to reflect the effect of current social policy on the level of poverty, HIV/AIDS and their respective increase or decline.

Part III. Migrant workers. In reply to the Committee’s comments, the Government indicates that sections 37–40 of the Employment Act, Chapter 268 of the Laws of Zambia, apply to migrant workers and provide for the core conditions of service available to those workers. These sections regulate contracts of foreign service by providing that contracts stipulated within Zambia which are to be performed, wholly or in part, outside Zambia are subject to an attestation procedure similar to that of local written contracts provided for by section 30 of the Employment Act. The Government indicates that minimum wages and conditions of service provided for by Chapter 276 of the Laws of Zambia also apply to migrant workers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the policies and programmes adopted, such as the SNDP, on improving the terms and conditions of employment of migrant workers (Articles 6–9 and 14(3) of the Convention).

Part VI. Education and training. The Government indicates that there has been a steady growth in total enrolments in the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training (TEVET) system from 16,550 in 2001 to 32,911 in 2010. In order to respond to the increasing demand for TEVET services, in the 2009–10 period, the TEVET system intensified the promotion of various modalities of learning which include the learnership scheme, workplace-based training and open and distance training. Nevertheless, the services offered by the TEVET system still do not satisfy the high demand for those services. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of education, vocational training and apprenticeship as part of a social policy in line with Articles 15 and 16 of the Convention.