Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre la discriminación (empleo y ocupación), 1958 (núm. 111) - Guinea-Bissau (Ratificación : 1977)

Article 1 of the Convention. Legislative protection against discrimination. The Committee notes with interest that section 8.1(a) of the new Labour Code adopted on 30 June 2021 and promulgated in 2022 (Act No. 7/2022) now mentions colour and social origin as prohibited grounds of discrimination in employment and occupation. It also notes that this section specifies that protection against discrimination extends to all aspects of the employment cycle, namely access to employment and working conditions, including pay, promotion, and suspension or termination of the employment contract. The Committee notes with regret, however, that the new Labour Code: (1) omits the grounds of national extraction and (2) does not formally prohibit direct and indirect discrimination. The Committee underscores that “national extraction” covers distinctions made on the basis of a person’s place of birth, ancestry or foreign origin often experienced by ethnic minorities, indigenous and tribal peoples, migrant workers, including migrant domestic workers, Afro-descendants, national minorities and Roma people, among others. See, in this regard, the Committee’s general observation, adopted in 2018. In addition, it recalls that when legislation is adopted to give effect to the principle of the Convention, it should at least cover all the grounds of discrimination listed in Article1(1)(a) of the Convention. The Committee recalls the definitions of direct and indirect discrimination it has previously provided: (1) direct discrimination occurs when less favourable treatment is explicitly or implicitly based on one or more prohibited grounds; while (2) indirect discrimination refers to apparently neutral situations, regulations, or practices which in fact result in unequal treatment of persons with certain characteristics. It occurs when the same condition, treatment or criterion is applied to everyone, but results in a disproportionately harsh impact on some persons on the basis of characteristics such as race, colour, sex or religion, and is not closely related to the inherent requirements of the job. For example, the exclusion from the minimum wage or from labour legislation of sectors or occupational categories in which women are in the majority could constitute indirect discrimination against women. And, for example, in recruitment, the requirement of a minimum height of more than 1.70 metres would, in practice, significantly exclude women as we know that 70 per cent of women are below this height (Article 1(2) of the Convention does, however, provide for exceptions where it is proven that such a requirement is objectively justified based on the job in question). The notion of indirect discrimination is therefore essential for identifying situations in which certain treatment is applied in the same way to everyone, but which results in discrimination against a particular group protected by the Convention (women, ethnic or religious groups, people from a certain social origin), particularly as this form of discrimination is more subtle and less visible. The Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure that: (i) the grounds of national extraction are inserted into the Labour Code when the Code is next reviewed; and (ii) labour legislation expressly prohibits direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of at least all the grounds listed in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to raise awareness among workers, employers and their respective organizations, as well as law enforcement agents, of the new provisions of the Labour Code against discrimination.

Domestic workers. With regard to domestic workers, previously excluded from the scope of application of the Labour Code, the Committee notes that the new Labour Code now contains provisions on domestic work in sections 287 to 300, covering the minimum age for admission to employment, types of contracts, terms for payment, working hours, leave, occupational safety and health, termination of the employment contract, and so forth. However, section 21.1(a) of the new Code also stipulates that the domestic work contract is also subject to a special regime, without prejudice to the application of the general provisions of the Labour Code that are not incompatible with this regime. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide a copy of the text specifically governing domestic workers and to indicate precisely the manner in which this dual system operates in practice in order to ensure that domestic workers are effectively protected against discrimination in employment and occupation.

Article 1(1)(b). Additional grounds of discrimination. The Committee notes with interest that new prohibited grounds of discrimination in employment and occupation have been introduced into the new Labour Code, namely, culture and disability (physical, mental or sensory). While welcoming this legislative progress, the Committee requests the Government to: (i) clarify exactly what is understood as discrimination on the basis of culture in the Labour Code; (ii) take specific measures to inform workers, employers and their respective organizations, as well as administrations, labour inspectors and magistrates, of these new grounds of discrimination; and (iii) provide information on the measures adopted to this end and on any complaints relating to the application of the above-mentioned Act and, where relevant, on any administrative or judicial decisions.

Articles 2 and 3. Equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women. The Committee notes that, according to the report of the National Statistics Institute (INE) on gender statistics of 2023, entitled Women and Men in Guinea-Bissau, available on the INE website, the quota of 36 per cent set by Act No. 4/2018 on gender parity has not been reached. Thus, women’s representation in Parliament between 2019 and 2022 was 14 per cent (out of 102 deputies); and was 21.9 per cent in the Government (of the 32 portfolios, seven were held by women) as at 30 November 2023. With regard to the “Terra Ranka” Strategic and Operational Plan 2015–2020, the Committee notes that it has been updated by the “Hora Tchiga” National Development Plan 2020–2023, the main pillars of which were the reduction of poverty, insecurity and illiteracy, with a special focus on vulnerable population groups, including women. It also notes that in its first voluntary national review in 2022 on the implementation of the report on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Government indicates that: (1) discrimination against women is attributed to cultural and traditional barriers, as well as to structural problems, making them one of the most vulnerable groups; (2) women do not enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men, which is reflected in unequal access to basic social services, unequal property ownership rights, persistent gender gaps in the labour market and gender disparities in public administration and decision-making (the public sector employs around three times as many men as women); and (3) inequalities can also be attributed to the failure to apply fair laws in favour of women. According to the African Development Bank’s 2023 country report on Guinea-Bissau, the property law safeguards the rights of men and women to access land without discrimination. However, in practice, women in rural areas are penalized by the application of customary law, which denies them the right to own or inherit land. In this regard, the Committee notes that the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Guinea-Bissau 2022–2026 includes in its priorities to “support the mainstreaming of gender equality concerns in all actions, with a gender, age, and diversity perspective and a lifecycle approach through the promotion of full, meaningful and effective participation and representation of women”, and their empowerment at all levels of economic and commercial activity. Regarding education and training, the Committee notes the Government’s general information that significant results were achieved through the implementation of a certain number of measures aimed at improving girls’ school enrolment, particularly in rural areas, including by setting up school canteens and education programmes. It also indicates that a study aimed at collecting data from all vocational training centres is being carried out. The Committee notes with interest the adoption in February 2022 of the National Strategic Plan for Inclusive Education 2022–2028, aimed at eliminating gender disparities in education by 2023 and guaranteeing equal access to all levels of education and occupational training for the most vulnerable. The Committee notes the detailed information provided on the obstacles to women’s access to employment and to goods and services necessary to carry out an activity – access to land, credit and resources – especially in a country where the majority of the working population lives in rural areas and whose income therefore comes from non-wage work. Given the persistence of gender stereotypes, which determine the roles and responsibilities of women and men in all areas of life and particularly in employment, the Committee requests the Government to take effective, proactive measures to improve equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in all aspects of employment and occupation, such as: (i) promoting women’s entrepreneurship, their access to vocational training, the formal economy labour market, land and credit; and (ii) improving the rate of girls’ school attendance to reduce their early school dropout. It also requests the Government to: (i) provide information on the progress made in this regard, particularly following the implementation of the Second National Policy for the Promotion of Gender Equality and Equity and its 2016–2025 Action Plan, the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for Guinea-Bissau 2022–2026 and the National Strategic Plan for Inclusive Education 2022–2028; (ii) provide information on whether it envisages updating the “Hora Tchiga” National Development Plan 2020–2023; and (iii) organize public awareness-raising activities to tackle the exclusion and discrimination resulting from prejudices and stereotypes relating to the skills and aspirations of certain groups in society, including women, and also better inform social partners of the policy and legislative framework on which the principles of equality and non-discrimination are based.

Article 5. Restrictions on the employment of women. Prohibition of night work by women. The Committee notes that, following its request to amend sections 155(4) and 160 of the previous Labour Code, which prohibited women from being employed in hazardous occupations or from night work, new section 359 of the Labour Code focuses on maternity protection. This section sets out that during pregnancy and after their return to work, women must work in conditions that are not harmful to pregnancy or to nursing mothers and that they must not work overtime, perform night work or be moved from their usual place of work. Instead of strictly prohibiting pregnant or nursing women workers from night work as a maternity protection measure, the Committee encourages the Government to envisage, in consultation with the representative workers’ and employers’ organizations (and the view of the works doctor), alternative working arrangements, to thereby ensure that this protection measure does not, in practice, become an obstacle to equal access to employment for women. It requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken to this end.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.