Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its 2012 direct request, which read as follows:

Repetition

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report received in December 2011. The Government included in its report statistics on the job vacancies and job applications at the National Employment Office (NEO) in 2010, as well as on the number of persons with disabilities benefiting from training and financial support. The Committee notes that the NEO continued to implement measures to promote employment, training and vocational guidance. In this regard, the ILO project “Support to Public Employment Services in Lebanon” carried out between 2009 and 2012 aimed at increasing the capacity of the NEO to assist the unemployed and underemployed, ensuring efficient provision of employment services, developing a labour market information system and enhancing self-employment opportunities through skills training. As a major result of this project, NEO employees received training and 41 new staff members were recruited. Moreover, in the framework of this project, a study was conducted by the NEO to assess the employment needs of more than 600 enterprises, hotels and restaurants that employ over 13,000 workers across Lebanon. The Committee recalls that Article 1(1) of the Convention requires States to declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. Measures of employment policy should be coordinated with other major decisions in the sphere of economic and social policy. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the steps taken to declare an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment, within a framework of a coordinated economic and social policy. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved by the measures implemented by the National Employment Office in terms of the creation of lasting employment and the reduction of unemployment and underemployment. The Committee also hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide in its next report statistics and other relevant data on the situation and trends concerning employment, unemployment and underemployment, particularly with regard to women and young workers.

Promotion of employment through education and vocational training for young persons. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the programmes established in the context of the National Education for All Plan (2006–15) intend to provide young persons with education and training focusing on the acquisition of the necessary qualifications for economic development. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the education and training programmes implemented, with an indication of the results achieved in terms of the integration of the beneficiaries, and particularly women and young persons, into lasting employment.

Migrant workers. In reply to its previous comments, the Government indicates that there are no abuses during the recruitment of foreign workers living in Lebanon, since the employment of these workers is subject to laws and regulations. Moreover, foreign workers in domestic services are employed under a standard employment contract. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in the context of an active employment policy with a view to preventing abuse during the recruitment stage of foreign workers in Lebanon (see Part X of the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169)).

Promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee recalls that the Council for Development and Reconstruction and the Association of Banks in Lebanon adopted measures to stimulate the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. It requests again the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures adopted “in order to create an environment conducive to the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises” (see Paragraph 5 of the Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 (No. 189)).

Article 3. Participation of the social partners in the formulation and implementation of policies. The Committee requests the Government to provide in its next report information on the activities of the tripartite Labour Cooperation and Coordination Board, with an indication of the manner in which it is consulted on the formulation and review of employment policies and programmes. Please also indicate the manner in which the views of representatives of those working in the rural and the informal economy are taken into account.