Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee regrets that for the second consecutive time the Government’s report does not adequately respond to the issues raised in the Committee’s comments. The Committee therefore urges the Government to provide full information on all matters raised in the comments below.

Legislation. The Committee recalls that section 14(1)(f) of Labour Proclamation No. 377/2003 provides that it shall be unlawful for an employer to discriminate between workers on the basis of nationality, sex, religion, political outlook or any other conditions. The Committee requested the Government to clarify whether section 14(1)(f) protects workers from discrimination in the selection and recruitment process and whether the employment service is bound by the principle of non-discrimination. In its report, the Government states that article 41 of the Constitution provides that every Ethiopian has the right to engage freely in economic activities and to pursue a livelihood of his or her choice. According to the Government this provision requires all public bodies, including the employment service, as well as employers to abstain from discrimination. The Committee nevertheless considers it important that the non-discrimination provisions contained in the Labour Proclamation are amended with a view to explicitly providing that workers and candidates for employment, including non-citizens, are protected from discrimination and to include all the prohibited grounds listed in Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention, including social origin and national extraction. In the meantime, the Committee urges the Government to provide information on any cases concerning discrimination in employment and occupation identified and addressed by the competent authorities, including the labour inspectors and the courts.

Recalling that the non-discrimination clause of the Federal Civil Service Proclamation No. 262/2002 does not include the grounds of social origin and national extraction (section 13(1)), the Government previously indicated that the question of amending section 13(1) to include these grounds had been placed on the agenda of the task force responsible for amending the Proclamation. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.

Equality of opportunity and treatment in the public sector, irrespective of sex and ethnicity. The Committee recalls that section 13(3) of the Federal Civil Service Proclamation No. 262/2002 authorizes preferential recruitment of women and members of ethnic groups underrepresented in the civil service. However, the Committee regrets that no information has been provided in response to the Committee’s comments regarding the promotion of gender equality and ethnic diversity in the public sector. Consequently, the Committee urges the Government to:

(i)    provide information on the measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment of men and women in the civil service, including in respect to recruitment, training and promotion;

(ii)   provide information on any measures taken to promote access to the civil service of all ethnic groups;

(iii)  provide statistical information on civil service employment by type of service and grade, disaggregated by sex, and to provide information on the ethnic composition of the civil service; and

(iv)   provide an indication as to how the Convention is applied with respect to state-owned enterprises.

Education and training. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that in 2006–07 the gross enrolment rate of girls increased to 85 per cent in secondary education, 51 per cent in technical and vocational education and training and to 25 per cent in higher education. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the progress made in ensuring equal access of men and women to education and training at all levels. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure equal access of women to employment and income-generating activities.

Indigenous communities. The Committee notes from the 2003 report of the African Commission’s Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities that a number of pastoralist communities live in Ethiopia who depended on their ancestral lands to engage in their traditional occupations and livelihood activities. The report indicates that the adoption of a new strategy on pastoral development by the federal Government constituted a positive step in addressing the problems faced by pastoralist communities, particularly evictions from their land. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the strategy on pastoral development and information on its implementation.

Follow-up to the representation made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution by the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers concerning Conventions Nos 111 and 158 (GB.282/14/5, November 2001). The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no new information concerning this matter. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on any further decisions reached by the Ethiopia–Eritrea Claims Commission and on measures taken, in line with such decisions, to indemnify as fully as possible the workers displaced following the outbreak of the 1998 border conflict, and to grant appropriate relief in accordance with Conventions Nos 111 and 158.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.