Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Central African Republic (Ratification: 1964)

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination. Sexual harassment on the basis of sex. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain a reply to its request for information regarding sexual harassment in employment and occupation. The Committee recalls that Act No. 06.032 of 27 December 2006 on the protection of women against violence, albeit not specifically covering the workplace, contains provisions which impose penalties for quid pro quo harassment. With a view to effectively combating all forms of sexual harassment in employment and occupation, particularly quid pro quo and hostile environment sexual harassment, the Committee once again asks the Government to take the necessary steps on the occasion of a future revision of the Labour Code to supplement the labour legislation by including provisions defining and prohibiting all forms of harassment, protecting victims against possible reprisals and imposing penalties on the perpetrators. Moreover, in order to supplement anti-sexual harassment measures, the Committee once again asks the Government to take practical measures to prevent sexual harassment, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, at the national, enterprise and administrative levels (awareness-raising and information campaigns, workplace rules, development of a code of conduct, implementation of a complaints procedure, etc.).

Article 1(1)(b). Other grounds of discrimination. Disability and HIV status. The Committee recalls that any discrimination against a candidate for a job on the basis of mental or physical disability is prohibited (section 266 of the Labour Code) and that employers’ and workers’ organizations must ensure that workers are protected from all forms of stigmatization and discrimination on the basis of HIV status (section 313 of the Labour Code). With regard to practical measures, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on any steps taken, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations, to prevent discrimination and stigmatization in employment and occupation on the basis of disability or HIV status. It also asks the Government to provide any available information on the implementation in the private sector of the requirement for employers with more than 25 workers to employ 5 per cent of workers with disabilities who fulfil the recruitment criteria (section 265 of the Labour Code).

Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment. Indigenous peoples. Recalling its 2015 comments on the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), regarding acts of violence against them and in the absence of information on this subject in the Government’s report on the application of this Convention, despite its request, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken to ensure that indigenous peoples are protected against discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for indigenous peoples, particularly the Mbororo and the Aka Pygmies, in education, vocational training and employment, and in the exercise of their traditional activities.

Enforcement. Labour inspection. Body responsible for the protection of human rights. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the preventive and supervisory activities conducted by labour inspectors to combat discrimination and promote equality in employment and occupation. In view of the establishment of the National Commission for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in October 2017, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the mandate and operation of this Commission, specifying whether it has the mandate to prevent and combat discrimination in employment and occupation on the grounds set out in the Convention.