Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103) - Zambia (Ratification: 1979)

Article 4(3) of the Convention. Medical benefits. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that one of the major themes contained in the technical report prepared by the Pension Reforms Technical Working Group (PRTWG) is the establishment of a national social health insurance which provides, inter alia, for prenatal, antenatal and postnatal medical care and establishes the corresponding financing mechanisms (2.5 per cent of contributions paid by the employers and workers). According to the report, the reform will give rise to a National Social Health Insurance Management Authority. The Committee invites the Government to provide a more detailed description of this important initiative as well as the Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI), indicating in particular their legal status and the coverage of the population.

Article 6. Protection against dismissal. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Statutory Instruments supplied by the Government and observes that these instruments do not establish a prohibition against serving a notice of dismissal during the period of maternity as required by this provision of the Convention. Considering that the national legislation continues to authorize termination of employment during maternity leave for reasons unrelated to pregnancy (section 15B of the Employment Act), the Committee asks the Government to take legislative measures with a view to strengthening employment protection for women on maternity leave by prohibiting dismissal or notice of dismissal during that period.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes that the Human Rights Commission is in charge of monitoring the application of international instruments ratified by Zambia, including the present Convention. The Government indicates that no study monitoring the application of the Convention has been undertaken so far and that, as a result, the Commission has received only three complaints since 2013 related to the application of Articles 3, 4 and 6 of the Convention – the main reason for the violation being the lack of employment contracts, disregard by employers of employees’ rights and lack of understanding of the rights of women workers as regards maternity protection. The Government stresses in addition that the length and costs of taking legal action represent obstacles to the use of this procedure by those who are among the less educated or low income segments of the population in a context of limited capacity to provide legal services to the vulnerable population. Taking note of this information, the Committee ask the Government to invite the Human Rights Commission to undertake a study on the application of the Convention in Zambia with a view to identifying the gaps in its practical implementation and plan corresponding measures to address these.