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

Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140) - Belize (Ratification: 1999)

Articles 2 to 4 of the Convention. Formulation of a national policy on paid educational leave. The Committee notes the Government’s succinct report, which covers the June 2013 to July 2022 period. The Government indicates that there has been no change in the application of the Convention since its last report and that it is working on creating a policy. The Government further indicates that the public sector and some companies with trade union representation do have provisions in their regulations and collective bargaining agreements that cover the requirements laid out in Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Convention. Noting that the ratification of the Convention dates back to 1999 and that no new measure seems to have been taken by the Government to ensure compliance with the obligations assumed under the Convention since the last report received in 2013, the Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to formulate, adopt and implement without delay a national policy to promote paid educational leave for the purposes set out in the Convention. It recalls that the Government can avail itself of the of the technical assistance of the ILO in this regard.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee had previously noted that 620 public officers had been granted paid educational leave in various areas over the three years period 2009–12. It notes from the study leave statistics submitted by the Government in its report that there has been a decline in the granting of paid educational leave, with a total of only 337 public service workers obtaining this type of leave, either with 80 or 100 per cent salary commitment, during the five-year period 2017-22. The Committee consequently requests the Government to provide additional information on the reasons explaining the decline in paid educational leave being granted in the public sector. It also requests the Government to continue to provide statistics relating to the application of the Convention, as well as any other documentation, including reports and studies, allowing an appreciation of the level of application of the Convention in practice.