Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Bahrain (Ratification: 1999)

Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. National policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. Access to the open labour market and services available for persons with disabilities. In response to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s reference to progress in implementing the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2012–16, in particular measures to encourage the employment of persons with disabilities and cooperation between the various parties concerned with persons with disabilities, such as the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Social Development, to integrate persons with disabilities into the labour market through training and employment programmes. The Committee further notes that these programmes include wage-support measures provided by the Tamkeen Labour Fund, under which the State covers the salary of workers disabilities for one year for companies that integrate such workers. The Committee also notes the launch in 2023 of the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2023–27, which builds on the previous Strategy and the Plan for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and is organized around seven axes: legislation and regulation; health and rehabilitation; education and integration; academic and vocational qualification and economic and social empowerment; empowerment of women with disabilities; accessibility of buildings and services; and awareness-raising and media. The Government indicates that legislation is under ongoing review and development to reflect global and regional changes. In response to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government indicates that the introduction of two hours of paid rest per day for workers with disabilities has not reduced the employment rate of persons with disabilities. The Government reports the integration of 271 jobseekers with disabilities in 2022 and 242 in 2023 (out of 321 registered). According to the General Organization for Social Insurance, 442 employees with disabilities (327 men and 115 women) are working in the national labour market. The Committee notes the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in May 2024, expressing deep concern regarding the use of “health capacity or fitness” as a precondition for public employment and its lack as a reason for termination of employment, the absence of mechanisms to ensure reasonable accommodation in the workplace and to recognize the denial of reasonable accommodation as discrimination; and the existence of lists restricting persons with disabilities to specified jobs (CRPD/C/BHR/CO/1-2, para. 54). In view of the above structural barriers to employment in the open labour market, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the specific legislative or policy measures taken or envisaged that aim at: (i) the removal of “health capacity or fitness” as a precondition for recruitment or as a ground for termination in the public sector; (ii) the introduction of effective mechanisms to ensure reasonable accommodation in the workplace and to recognize the denial of reasonable accommodation as discrimination; and (iii) the repeal of any lists or restrictions limiting persons with disabilities to specified jobs, thereby ensuring access to all available types of employment in the open labour market.

The Committee also requests information on the impact of the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2023–27, including, but not limited to, labour market participation rate, employment rate, disability wage gap, and work in the informal economy

Article 5. Consultation of the representative organizations of employers and workers. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that coordination on the implementation of the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities is assigned to a high-level committee chaired by the Minister of Social Development and including representatives of relevant Government institutions and of civil society organizations and associations concerned with disability. The Committee notes the committee’s mandate to study and prepare public policy, laws, regulations and projects related to the care, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, to determine regulatory procedures for implementation by public and private bodies, and to plan and coordinate relevant programmes. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the activities of the high-level committee reviewing the implementation of the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities. It also requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the manner in which representative organizations of employers and workers and representative are involved on matters covered by the Convention.

The Committee recalls that Article 5 requires consultation with three distinct parties – representative organizations of employers, workers, and organizations representing persons with disabilities (OPDs) – on the formulation and implementation of the national policy. The Committee requests the Government to specify the distinct mechanisms established to ensure that all three parties are effectively involved in the following stages: (i) the design, adoption, and assessment of the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities 2023–27; (ii) the development and review of the employment programmes, including the Tamkeen wage support measures; (iii) the selection of services and staff to be trained under the strategy (Article 9).

Articles 7 and 9. Accessible vocational guidance, vocational training, placement, employment and other related services. Suitably qualified staff to provide services for persons with disabilities. The Government indicates that the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Social Development are provide further training for staff that work directly with persons with disabilities. Both Ministries, together with other relevant parties, are working to train staff through in-house and external training courses and workshops. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on measures taken to ensure that all vocational rehabilitation and employment services, including those offered by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Social Development, are physically and functionally accessible to persons with disabilities (Article 7).The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the following aspects of staff development (Article 9): (i) the number of rehabilitation counsellors and other relevant staff trained and made available; (ii) statistical information on the total number of persons with disabilities who have benefited from these vocational guidance, training, and placement services, disaggregated by age, sex, and type of service received.