Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1959)

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on grounds of sex. Sexual harassment. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that several studies have been conducted to evaluate the extent of violence against women, particularly in employment, and to implement the most appropriate measures to eliminate this scourge. It notes the Government’s reference to the development of a comprehensive Bill to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including sexual harassment in the workplace. The Committee hopes that this comprehensive Bill will be developed and adopted in the near future, in collaboration with the workers’ and employers’ organizations, and that it will expressly prohibit both quid pro quo and hostile working environment sexual harassment. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard, and on the results of studies conducted to access the extent of sexual harassment in the workplace. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on awareness-raising and training activities carried out on harassment and the remedies available, for the public, workers, employers and their organizations, as well as for law enforcement agents, labour inspectors and judges.

Discrimination on grounds of race, colour or national extraction. The Berber population. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the situation of members of minority groups, and particularly the Berber population, in the labour market. The Committee notes that the Government provides no information in this respect. It refers to its comments relating to the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), in which it notes that the Berber population is located mainly in certain areas in the south of the country and that article 42 of the new Constitution guarantees the support of the State to “national culture in its rootedness and diversity”. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken, particularly in the context of the legislative reforms alongside the new Constitution, in order to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment of members of minority groups, in particular the Berber population, with regard to access for their children to education and access for men and women to employment and vocational training. The Government is also requested to provide updated information on the situation of minorities in the labour market.

Article 1(1)(b). Disability. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that Act No. 2005-83 of 15 August 2005 on the promotion and protection of persons with disabilities fixes a quota of 1 per cent of positions for persons with disabilities in the public service and in public and private enterprises usually employing over 100 workers (sections 29 and 30). The Committee notes with interest that article 48 of the new Constitution provides that “the State shall protect all persons with disabilities against all forms of discrimination” and that “all citizens with disabilities shall have the right, according to the nature of the disability, to receive all measures that ensure their full integration into society, and the State shall take all necessary measures to this end”. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, given the low number of enterprises employing over 100 workers, the Minister for Social Affairs has drawn up a draft revision of Act No. 2005-83 to reduce this threshold to 50 workers. It notes that the Government plans to implement activities to facilitate the occupational integration of persons with disabilities, and that a programme to promote their inclusion in schools and vocational training is being developed. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on the impact of positive action measures envisaged by the Act on the promotion and protection of persons with disabilities of 2005, specifying the number of workers with disabilities who have benefited from these measures in order to access employment in the public service or in public or private enterprises. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the development of the draft revision of the above Act, and on the content and impact of activities carried out to facilitate access for persons with disabilities to education, vocational training and employment.

Article 2. Equality of access to vocational education, training and guidance in rural areas. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning the training activities undertaken between 2014 and 2015 by 647 social education centres, the majority of the participants of which were women (77.1 per cent), except in rural areas where only 33.3 per cent of women participated in the activities. The Government indicates that the average literacy rate was 18.1 per cent in 2012, but rose to an average of 22.5 per cent among women, reaching 40.1 per cent among women in rural areas. With reference to its comments on the application of the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the alarmingly significant regional disparities, particularly between urban and rural areas, which persist with regard to access to education, vocational training and guidance, and employment, especially paid employment, and which primarily affect women in rural areas. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on measures taken to promote equality of access to vocational education, training and guidance in rural areas, and on the results achieved in terms of access to employment for men and women, particularly women’s rate of literacy.

Article 5. Workers with family responsibilities. The Committee recalls that under national legislation, although men can benefit under the same conditions as women from the part-time work scheme in the private sector (sections 94-2 to 94 12 of the Labour Code), this is not the case in the public sector where this special scheme applies exclusively to women (Act No. 2006-58 of 28 July 2006 introducing a special part-time work scheme in the public sector). Noting that the Government does not provide any information on this matter, the Committee recalls that, while measures to support workers with family responsibilities are essential for the promotion of gender equality in employment and occupation, where the law suggests that the primary responsibility for the care of the family falls to women or excludes men from certain rights and advantages, stereotyped roles for women and men in the family and society persist and are reinforced. It notes in this regard that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights emphasized that women remained disadvantaged in terms of access to work, as several provisions aim to promote reconciliation of work and family life by strengthening gender stereotypes and occupational segregation (E/C.12/TUN/CO/3 of 7 October 2016, paragraph 28). The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to harmonize national legislation in order to ensure that any provisions concerning workers with family responsibilities are applicable both to men and women. The Government is also requested to provide information on the number of men and women workers, from the public and private sectors, who avail themselves of the possibility of part-time work.

Enforcment. The Committee notes that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concern about the working conditions in the textile industry and the lack of resources allocated to the labour inspectorate, and expressed surprise at the fact that the labour inspection mandate did not appear to cover the informal sector, in which, according to some estimates, 37 per cent of jobs at the national level are concentrated (E/C.12/TUN/CO/3 of 7 October 2016, paragraphs 30 and 34). The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to build the capacities of the labour inspectorate to effectively promote and ensure equality in employment and occupation for all workers employed in all economic sectors, in both the formal and informal economy. The Government is requested to provide information on any progress in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the number and nature of acts of discrimination examined by the labour inspectorate and the courts, and to send copies of administrative or judicial decisions issued on this matter.