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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Niger (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee takes note of Ordinance No. 2023-01 of 28 July 28, 2023, which suspends the Constitution of 25 November 2010, and establishes the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, as well as Ordinance No. 2023-02 of 28 July 2023, on public authorities during the transition period, as communicated by the Government. It notes that, under Ordinance No. 2023-02, laws and regulations enacted and published as of the signing date of the ordinance remain in force unless expressly repealed (section 19). The Commission also notes that this Ordinance provides that Niger remains bound by ratified International Treaties and Agreements (section 3).

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual harassment. Definition and scope of application. Legislation. For several years, the Committee has been requesting the Government to take the necessary steps to extend the definition and prohibition of sexual harassment to include hostile work environment sexual harassment and to expand the scope of application of these provisions beyond persons exercising authority. In its report, the Government undertakes to take account of these requests in the forthcoming revision of the Labour Code and its regulatory section. The Committee emphasizes that without a clear definition of sexual harassment in employment and occupation, it remains doubtful whether the legislation effectively addresses all its forms and effects (see General Survey of 2023 on achieving gender equality at work, paragraph 111). The Government also informs the Committee that the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure are being revised and that new sections 384–386 considerably take account of the issue of harassment (but it does not provide the text of these new sections). The Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, in practice, with regard to punishing sexual harassment, criminal law provisions are normally not sufficient because: (i) since criminal law generally focuses on sexual assault or “immoral acts”, and not the full range of behaviour that constitutes sexual harassment in employment and occupation, it is unlikely that it covers all behaviour constituting sexual harassment; (ii) the burden of proof is harder to meet, especially if there are no witnesses (which is often the case); and (iii) such provisions do not always provide for compensation for the victim (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 792). Additionally, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recommended that the Government: (i) strengthen the implementation of the provisions of the Labour Code and the Criminal Code on sexual harassment in the workplace; (ii) ensure that women who are victims of sexual harassment have access to effective remedies, that their complaints are effectively investigated, that perpetrators prosecuted and adequately punished and that victims are protected from retaliation; (iii) conduct regular labour inspections; (iv) investigate all cases of harassment and gender-based violence, including those committed against girls and women in educational institutions; and (v) prosecute the perpetrators of such acts and provide immediate protection to victims (CEDAW/C/NER/CO/5, 20 February 2024, paragraphs 40(f) and 42(f)). In this respect, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the importance of ensuring that remedies are available to allow victims to effectively assert their rights, bearing in mind the sensitive nature of this issue and protecting victims and any witnesses against reprisal. In addition, the Committee notes that in response to its request for information on activities carried out relating to prevention and awareness-raising of sexual harassment in employment and occupation, the Government indicates that since 2020 it has been organizing training and awareness-raising sessions on the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) for workers and trade union leaders who launched a lobbying and advocacy campaign for the ratification of that Convention. While recognizing the complexity of the situation facing the country, the Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the progress made in the revision of the Labour Code, the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to protection against sexual harassment in employment and occupation The Committee once again requests the Government to: (i) intensify its efforts, in collaboration with workers’ and employers’ organizations, to prevent and raise awareness of all forms of sexual harassment in employment and occupation; (ii) provide information on any cases of sexual harassment in employment handled by the labour inspectorate or the courts; and (iii) provide a copy of the conclusions of the planned studies, within the framework of the National strategy for preventing and responding to gender-based violence in learning and work environments. Lastly, with regard to the public sector, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the relevant provisions of the future code of ethics and conduct drawn up by the High Commission for Modernization of the Administration and of any other provisions applicable to the public sector.

Discrimination on the basis of social origin. Former slaves and their descendants. The Government indicates that it has implemented, in partnership with the one of the key anti-slavery organizations (Timidria) and the Bridge Project (From Protocol to Practice: a bridge for global action against forced labour), a programme to support the livelihoods of 400 women of slave descent in 22 villages in the regions Tahoua and Agade. The 400 women were identified by Timidria, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission and in agreement with the village communities concerned. The programme is structured around a series of activities aimed at the economic reintegration and empowerment of the beneficiaries. These include: (i) vocational training in areas that seem promising in terms of local economic opportunities; (ii) capital endowment (livestock and/or equipment) to start up income-generating activities; and (iii) entrepreneurship skills training (GERME: Better Manage your Business project) to build the capacities of those involved in income-generating activities. This vocational training was provided by job training centres located in certain departments or municipalities and accredited by the State through the Support Fund for Vocational Training and Apprenticeship. Given the challenges and inequalities faced by descendants of slaves, the Bridge Project has carried out a range of actions to directly support school attendance of children of slave descent, including wahaya women (girls or women sold as “fifth wives” to men, called such because their status is different from that of the four legally authorized wives). Such actions include issuing 848 children’s birth certificates (504 boys and 344 girls) in eight villages at public meetings organized for this purpose with the support of the Bridge Project; registering 201 of these children for the 2021–22 school year and providing them with school kits (slates, books, chalk, water bottles and school bags); and equipping the schools in question. In addition, the Bridge Project helped to free victims of slavery, by enabling 352 adults of slave descent (145 men and 207 women) to obtain national identity cards and a further 457 (342 men and 115 women) to obtain birth certificates at mobile courts organized for this purpose. The Committee notes, however, that in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) noted with concern: (i) the persistence of widespread discrimination against and social exclusion of persons of slave descent, who face challenges in obtaining identity papers and gaining access to education, employment and health service; (ii) that in some villages, there is a stigma attached to the names of hamlets inhabited mainly by persons of slave descent; (iii) that some ethnic groups still have harmful customary practices that prevent women from fully exercising their rights under the Convention, in particular the right to own and inherit land; and (iv) persistence of harmful practices against women, including those of slave descent, such as forced marriage, early marriage and the slavery-like practice of wahaya (CERD/C/NER/CO/22-25, 24 May 2023, paragraphs 20 and 26). The Committee notes the efforts made by the Government to combat the marginalization of descendants of slaves and promote their emancipation. In light of the ongoing discrimination against former slaves and their descendants in the country, the Committee requests the Government to intensify its efforts to: (i) mobilize and raise the awareness of the public of the importance of combating slavery and its vestiges; (ii) combat discrimination and stigmatization against these persons, including in relation to access to productive resources such as land, to enable them to find employment or carry out their activities freely; and (ii) provide for remedies and apply appropriate reparations and penalties. It requests the Government to continue providing information on any measures taken in this regard in the fields of education, training and employment and the results achieved.

Article 2. Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women. Education and vocational training. Employment and occupation. The Government indicates that women’s representation in decision-making bodies has improved. It specifies that under the 2019 revised Act on quotas, (which provides for 30 per cent women in individual posts and 25 per cent in elected posts), the number of women deputies rose from 29, out of 171 in the 2016 elections, to 50 in 2020. Of the 1,525 decision-making positions in the public service, only 178 (11.67 per cent) are occupied by women, and only two of the 56 prefects are women. In the armed forces and law enforcement, women represent 3 per cent of the army, 10 per cent of the Gendarmerie, 7 per cent of the National Guard and 15 per cent of the police. The Committee also notes that CEDAW was concerned at: (i) the fact that women remain underrepresented in decision-making positions, including in the Government, the judiciary, the public service, the foreign service, the armed forces and in international organizations; (ii) the underrepresentation of women in the labour force in the State party and their limited access to employment opportunities, owing to low levels of education, confinement to stereotypical gender roles in the domestic sphere and economic dependence on husbands; (iii) the concentration of women in low-paying jobs in the informal economy, excluded from social security coverage; (iv) the number of women engaged in unpaid care work; (v) the persistence of a significant gender pay gap; and (vi) the barriers faced by women to access to management positions and higher-paying jobs in the formal economy. In respect of education, CEDAW noted with concern: (i) the limited access to safe and high-quality education for girls and women, in particular for those living in areas affected by armed conflict, climate change and natural disasters, resulting in attacks and the occupation of schools by the military and armed groups, the destruction and damaging of schools and power cuts; (ii) the lack of implementation of the existing education framework; (iii) the literacy rate among women (only 29 per cent in 2020); and (iv) the high dropout rates among girls at the secondary level of education, attributable to early pregnancy, child marriage, discrimination based on sex and/or disability, military attacks on schools and the lack of menstrual hygiene products and of separate sanitary facilities in schools, in particular in rural areas (CEDAW/C/NER/CO/5, 20 February 2024, paragraphs 35, 39 and 41). The Committee also notes the adoption in 2022 of the Social and Economic Development Plan 2022–26, available on the website of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, which includes the fifth Gender Inequality Reduction Programme, aimed at accelerating the process towards gender equality and equity in several ways, such as: (i) promoting the economic empowerment of women and girls, including those with disabilities; (ii) boosting employability and access to decent, secure jobs; (iii) reducing gender-based violence; and (iv) improving girls’ and women’s access to decision-making and management bodies at national, regional and locals levels. The programme also aims to: (i) strengthen implementation of the National Gender Policy and accelerate implementation of the National Strategy for Women’s Economic Empowerment; and (ii) carry out a study on the gender profile in the public sector, and establish a database with data disaggregated by sex, as well as a gender-sensitive information system. The Committee requests the Government to step up its efforts to promote gender equality in education, training and employment. It also requests the Government to take the necessary measures to: (i) ensure women’s representation in decision-making posts in the public service, as stipulated in the Act on quotas; (ii) ensure girls’ school enrolment and attendance, while reducing the rates of early school dropout and illiteracy, with an emphasis on combating gender stereotypes and other prejudices, enabling girls to access a wide range of jobs and occupations, in particular through targeted career guidance measures; (iii) take the necessary measures, within the framework of the Social and Economic Development Plan 2022–26, or any other route, to ensure better vocational training for women, leading to higher skilled and better paid formal jobs, and more generally to encourage women's employment, whether salaried or self-employed, in all sectors of the economy, and their access to productive resources such as land and credit; and (iv) provide information on the results of the study on the gender profile in the public sector, provided for in the Social and Economic Development Plan 2022–26, as well as statistical data disaggregated by sex on the distribution of men and women in employment and vocational training.

Article 5. Special protection measures. Restrictions on the employment of women (night work and work sites). The Committee notes that section 60 of the Interoccupational Collective Agreement adopted in 2022 sets forth that night work by women and children under 18 years of age is strictly prohibited in factories, manufactures, mines, open cast mines, quarries, building sites, workshops and their outbuildings of any kind whatsoever. The Committee recalls that protective measures applicable to women’s employment at night which go beyond maternity protection and are based on stereotyped perceptions regarding women’s professional abilities and role in society, violate the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women (see General Survey of 2023 on achieving gender equality at work, paragraph 88). The Committee also emphasizes that the provisions relating to the protection of persons working under hazardous or difficult conditions should be aimed at protecting the health, including reproductive health, and safety of men and women, while taking account of the gender differences with regard to specific risks to their health (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 839 and 840). Noting that the Government has not provided any information on the points referred to above, the Committee once again requests the Government to: (i) indicate the criteria used for establishing the list of types of work prohibited for women on account of the danger they pose to their reproductive health and to provide a copy of this list after it has been adopted; (ii) consider the possibility of amending the Labour Code and its regulatory section so as to ensure that the provisions relating to the protection of reproductive health are extended to men; and (iii) indicate the reasons why the employment of women in “transportation [of goods] using pedal tricycles” is prohibited to determine whether this prohibition constitutes a protection measure within the meaning of Article 5 of the Convention.

Affirmative action. Persons with disabilities. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of Act No. 2019-62 of 10 December 2019 setting out the fundamental principles for the reintegration of persons with disabilities and its implementing Decree No. 2021/539/PRN/MSP/P/AS of 12 July 2021 aimed at promoting, protecting and ensuring the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and all fundamental freedoms for persons with disabilities, promoting respect for their dignity, and prohibiting all forms of discrimination based on disabilities. The Government indicates that the above-mentioned Decree sets forth that, where reserved jobs and profiles are available on the labour market, all public establishments, private enterprises or non-governmental organizations employing at least 20 employees is bound to reserve a quota of 5 per cent of job posts for persons with disabilities. The Government indicates that in the public service, the application of the 5 per cent quota enabled the recruitment of more than 500 young graduates with disabilities between 2008 and 2020, but it acknowledges that this quota is not applied in the private sector. It also states that in terms of opportunities and access to jobs in the labour market, people with disabilities are at a particular disadvantage because of prejudice against them, lack of awareness, and their low level of education and training. Regarding reasonable accommodation, there are several texts, including Act No. 2017-20 of April 2017, laying down the fundamental principles of town planning and urban development, which requires that all new infrastructure must be accessible to persons with disabilities. According to the Government, most of the new infrastructure is now built with accessibility features for persons with disabilities. As for the old infrastructure, measures are being taken to adapt it. With regard to awareness-raising on issues related to discrimination based on disabilities, the Government indicates that awareness-raising activities are being carried out, including with regard to women with disabilities. With regard to the National Commission for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities and its activities, the Committee notes that it leads and coordinates actions for adaptation and the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. It notes that the composition of the Commission was extended in 2010 to include representatives of public and private associations and bodies, to more closely involve persons with disabilities in the drafting, implementation and evaluation of laws and policies. The Commission has representatives at regional, departmental and municipal levels responsible for carrying out information, education and communication initiatives. There is also National Committee for monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee notes that, in its 2024 concluding observations, CEDAW expressed its concern about: (i) the situation of disadvantaged groups of women, in particular women and girls with disabilities, who have limited access to the full enjoyment of their rights, in particular with regard to their access to education, employment, health, justice, economic and social benefits and meaningful and equal participation in political and public life; and (ii) increasing feminization of poverty and the marginalization of disadvantaged groups of women, in particular women and girls with disabilities, who have limited access to economic and social benefits, decent work, limited control over their own time, lives and bodies and lack opportunities for meaningful participation in social and economic decision-making at all levels, which is exacerbated by deep-rooted social norms that are discriminatory against women. It notes that CEDAW recommended that the Government: (i) allocate the necessary human, technical and financial resources for the education of girls with disabilities, including by increasing the number of schools offering inclusive education, and ensuring accessibility and reasonable accommodation in schools; and (ii) improve access to employment and training opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized groups of women, including women with disabilities (CEDAW/C/NER/CO/5, 20 February 2024, paragraphs 40 (h), 45(a) and 49). The Committee notes the efforts made by the Government to support persons with disabilities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on: (i) progress made in promoting access to education, training and employment for persons with disabilities, in particular by providing statistical data disaggregated by sex; (ii) the measures envisaged or implemented to give effect to the 5 per cent quota of jobs reserved for persons with disabilities in the public and private sectors; and (iii) the activities carried out by the National Commission for the Promotion of Persons with Disabilities and its representatives at regional, departmental and municipal levels to combat discrimination in employment and occupation.