Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Guinea (Ratification: 1960)

Article 1(1)(b) of the Convention. Workers with disabilities. The Committee notes that one of the intended effects of the National Social and Economic Development Plan 2016–20 was the promotion of productive employment and entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities, and that the priority actions included improving the school enrolment of these persons, and increasing their access to adapted training, apprenticeships in areas with potential for productive jobs and tailored financial services. While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the results obtained after the implementation of these actions, specifying the rate of participation of workers with disabilities in the labour market, and statistical data disaggregated, as much as possible, by sex, level of education, branch of activity and level of responsibility.

Articles 2 and 3. Formulation and implementation of a national equality policy. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes with regret that, in its report, the Government has not provided information on the formulation and implementation of a national equality programme. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take practical measures to promote and maintain a work environment conducive to equality of opportunity and treatment, during both recruitment and the performance of work, by organizing, for example, awareness-raising activities for workers, employers and their organizations on matters related to stereotypes and prejudice on the basis of race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women in employment and occupation, including in respect of education and vocational training. In reply to the previous comment of the Committee, the Government indicates the following: (1) in 2011, a National Gender Policy was implemented in Guinea, which was revised in 2017; (2) in addition to the “More young people and women in the administration” programme, other programmes have been implemented to enable women to obtain jobs in the public service, including high level positions, such as the training of 60 junior executives in management and public administration; (3) as part of the application of Act No. L/2019/0011/AN of 9 May 2019 establishing gender parity in access to electoral mandates and elective functions in public institutions, 25 women were appointed to the National Transition Council (which comprises 81 members); (4) measures were taken to promote access for girls to vocational training in regional schools of arts and crafts; and (5) projects were implemented to promote women’s entrepreneurship, such as the “YouthConnekt for women” project. However, the Committee notes that, according to the Gender Inequality Index of the United Nations Development Programme, Guinea is one of the most unequal countries in the world, as it was ranked 182nd out of 191 countries in 2021. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to a report published by the World Bank in 2022, while the law provides for equality of opportunity in terms of access to education, in practice, access to school for girls is challenged by social and cultural norms, and by traditional and customary laws which discriminate against women (for example regarding early marriage and long hours of unpaid domestic work) and which sometimes take precedence over formal law, particularly in rural areas where families, who have limited resources, value the education of boys over that of girls. The absence of texts protecting girls against violence and sexual abuse at school is also a major concern for parents. The Committee also notes that, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, Guinea ranks 136th out of 146 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity, and 144th in terms of women’s and girls’ educational attainment. In this regard, the Committee observes that, according to this report, 76.3 per cent of girls are enrolled in primary school, 31 per cent in secondary school and only 4.2 per cent in higher education (compared with, respectively, 86.6 per cent, 40.8 per cent and 9.2 per cent for boys); the labour market participation rate for women is 42.9 per cent (compared with 65.2 per cent for men); and 5.8 per cent of enterprises are run by women. The Committee also notes that, according to the National Report on the Implementation of the Agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development, implemented in August 2023, the Government undertook a certain number of commitments, in particular a commitment to guarantee universal access to comprehensive education by ensuring free primary schooling and by enabling students to complete their education in a safe environment. Lastly, the Committee notes that, despite article 9 of the Constitution, according to which “no more than two thirds of the members of the Government and governing body assemblies may be of the same gender”, 29.6 per cent of members of parliament are women, of whom 25.9 hold ministerial positions. The Committee requests the Government to: (i) step up its efforts to encourage and maintain the school enrolment of girls, including in rural areas; (ii) develop the provision of vocational training for girls; and (iii) encourage access for women to productive resources, such as land and credit, and the employment of women in all sectors of the economy, including high level positions. The Committee also requests the Government to provide detailed information on any measures taken or envisaged in this regard, and on the results obtained, in particular statistical data disaggregated by level of education, branch of activity and level of responsibility.

Article 5. Special protection measures. Restrictions on the employment of women. The Committee notes that, in reply to its previous comment, the Government indicates that Order No. 1392/MASE/DNTLS/90 of 15 May 1990 concerning the employment of women and pregnant women, is to be revised after the adoption of the Bill issuing the revised Labour Code, which is currently underway, and that, at the same time, it will revise the list of types of work prohibited for women on the grounds of their danger to reproductive health. The Government will then submit the draft text established following consultations with the social partners to the Consultative Commission on Labour and Social Legislation (CCTLS). The Government further indicates that it will also present to the CCTLS the possibility of amending section 231(5) of the current Labour Code to extend the provisions on the protection of reproductive health to include that of men, and to ensure that they do not constitute an obstacle to the employment of women in certain professions or certain sectors. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to section 352(1) of the above-mentioned Bill, subject to the provisions of section 144 (pregnant women engaged in work recognized as hazardous to health have the right to be reassigned to work that is not detrimental to their health or to an accommodation of their workstation) and of section 155 (during their pregnancy or the nine months following childbirth, women have the possibility to terminate their employment contract without notice), “ministerial orders establish the nature of prohibited work for pregnant or breastfeeding women, and the special conditions of protection to be applied to them when performing such work“. The Committee further notes that section 352(2) of the above-mentioned Bill also establishes that “types of work likely to harm the reproductive capacity of women or, in the case of pregnant women, affect their health or that of their child, are prohibited or are subject to special protection measures”. The Committee notes with regret that draft section 352(2) is identical to section 231(5)(2) of the current Labour Code, which it had asked the Government to amend in its previous comment. With reference to this comment, the Committee requests the Government to: (i) review the wording of section 352(2) of the Bill issuing the revised Labour Code to ensure that the provisions on reproductive health are extended to include that of men, and that they do not constitute an obstacle to the employment of women in certain professions or certain sectors; (ii) to specify the criteria used to revise the list of types of work prohibited to women on the grounds of their danger to reproductive health; and (iii) to provide information on the process to revise Order No. 1392/MASE/DNTLS/90.

Prohibition of night work of women. Further to its previous comment, the Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that the provisions on the prohibition of night work by women have been removed in the Bill issuing the revised Labour Code. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, in this regard, the aforementioned version of the Bill issuing the revised Labour Code is adopted, and to provide information on any progress made in this regard.