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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Burkina Faso (Ratification: 1962)

Article 1 of the Convention. Protection against discrimination for workers excluded from the scope of the Labour Code. The Committee notes the detailed information supplied by the Government on the protection of workers who are excluded from the scope of the 2008 Labour Code. It notes that the provisions on protection against discrimination to which the Government refers address only access to employment (recruitment) for public employees of the State (Act No. 013/98/AN as amended by Act No. 019/2005/AN), employees of the territorial public service (Act No. 027-2006/AN), employees of public establishments (Act No. 033-2008/AN) and employees of the parliamentary public service (Act No. 020-2009/AN). Furthermore, there is no express mention in these laws of the grounds of discrimination set forth at Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Consequently, with a view to extending protection against discrimination so as to give full effect to the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to consider the possibility of incorporating in the laws pertaining to workers excluded from the scope of the Labour Code, particularly public servants, provisions defining and expressly prohibiting all discrimination, both direct and indirect, at all stages of employment and covering at least the grounds set forth at Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, namely race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the protection against discrimination afforded in practice to such workers in the course of employment, indicating the procedure enabling them to assert their rights should they consider themselves victims of discrimination.

Sexual harassment. The Committee notes that the Government undertakes to adopt the necessary mesures to have sexual harassment due to a hostile working environment covered by the labour legislation when the Labour Code is next revised. It also notes the Government’s statement that no instances of sexual harassment at work have as yet been reported. The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that the absence of complaints of sexual harassment does not necessarily indicate that this form of sex discrimination does not exist; rather, it is likely to reflect the lack of an appropriate legal framework, the lack of awareness, understanding and recognition of this form of sex discrimination among government officials, and workers and employers and their organizations, as well as the lack of access to, or the inadequacy of, complaint mechanisms and means of redress, or fear of reprisals (see General Survey on fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 790). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any revision of section 37 of the Labour Code undertaken to included provisions guaranteeing protection against sexual harassment due to a hostile working environment. It again asks the Government to provide information on any practical measures taken, such as awareness-raising campaigns or information seminars, to prevent and eliminate all forms of sexual harassment, and to continue to send information on any instances of sexual harassment that the competent authorities have addressed. Further, the Government is asked to indicate how it ensures protection for public employees against sexual harassment at work.

Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women. In its previous comments, the Committee emphasized that women were poorly represented in both the public and private sectors and that there were substantial disparities between the sexes in employment and occupation. This is borne out by the figures supplied by the Government on public service staff numbers (men account for 70.61 per cent of public servants and women for 29.39 per cent). The Committee notes that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has also pointed out that women are under-represented in all areas of professional life (CEDAW/C/BFA/CO/6, 22 October 2010, paragraph 17). The Government’s report still provides no information on specific measures adopted and implemented for the effective promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women. The Committee nonetheless notes that a national gender policy was adopted in 2009 which provides for a whole series of measures aimed at eliminating inequalities between men and women in a number of areas, including education, vocational training, access to the resources of production and to employment opportunities, and combating “social and cultural pressures” and gender-based stereotyping. Noting that the Government intends to promote equality between men and women in the framework of its national gender policy, the Committee again asks it to provide information on specific measures taken to improve women’s access to wage employment in the private sector and the public service, including in positions of responsibility, and to self employment, including in rural areas. Please also provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to reduce occupational gender segregation in particular through education and vocational training and secure equality of access for men and women to resources of production such as credit and land. The Committee also asks the Government to indicate whether the implementation of the national gender policy is to be evaluated and, if so, to provide information on the impact the measures taken in this context have had on the status of men and women in employment and occupation. The Government is also asked to indicate any action undertaken to address effectively stereotyping and bias in men’s and women’s roles in society.

National policy on equality without distinction as to race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that at present it has no broad national equality policy but that the issues are taken into account in the various laws in force. The Committee recalls that while the implementation of a national policy on equality normally includes the enactment of laws or regulations it also involves the adoption of specific measures, both immediate and for the long term, to eliminate in practice all discrimination in employment and occupation and promote equality among all sectors of the population. The Committee again asks the Government to provide information on specific measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for all in employment and occupation, irrespective of race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, specifying in particular whether supervisory mechanisms or specialized bodies have been established in this context.

Article 5. Special measures of protection. The Committee notes that the Government merely indicates that section 142 of the Labour Code of 2008, providing that “no woman worker may be assigned to work that may harm her reproductive capacity or, in the case of a pregnant woman, harm her health or that of her child”, is effectively applied. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on work prohibited for women pursuant to section 142 of the Labour Code.

Enforcement. Labour inspection and courts. The Committee notes that according to the Government, no administrative or judicial decisions on discrimination in employment and occupation have as yet been handed down. Regarding the work of the labour inspectorate more particularly, the Committee notes that the Government refers to the general yearly report of the labour inspectorate for 2011, which is not available. Consequently, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the work undertaken by labour inspectors and controllers for the prevention and monitoring of discrimination and to specify the number and nature of any instances of discrimination detected by or reported to labour inspectors, the remedies provided and the penalties imposed. Please provide copies of any judicial decisions regarding discrimination in employment and occupation.