Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2008, Publicación: 98ª reunión CIT (2009)

Convenio sobre el trabajo nocturno (mujeres), 1919 (núm. 4) - Nicaragua (Ratificación : 1934)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that night work for women is no longer prohibited since women workers enjoy all labour rights guaranteed by the Labour Code and other laws relating to equality of opportunity and treatment and they may not be subject to discrimination because of their gender. Bearing in mind that the Government has been reporting for many years that no effect is given to the provisions of the Convention, the Committee recalls that the denunciation of this Convention is possible at any time provided that the representative organizations of employers and workers are fully consulted in advance. In this respect, the Committee refers to paragraph 193 of its General Survey of 2001 on the night work of women in industry in which it concluded that Convention No. 4 is manifestly of historical importance only, ill-suited to present-day realities and that for all practical purposes it no longer makes a useful contribution to attaining the objectives of the Organization. The Committee also recalls that, based on these conclusions and the proposals of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided to shelve Convention No. 4 which essentially means that ratification of this instrument is no longer encouraged and that detailed reports on its application will no longer be requested on a regular basis (see GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraphs 31–32). However, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that night work is generally considered to have harmful effects for all workers and calls for an appropriate legal framework. As the Committee has pointed out in paragraphs 195 and 202 of the abovementioned General Survey, the process of eliminating legal restrictions on women’s employment during the night should not result in a legal vacuum with night workers being deprived of any regulatory safeguards while there is a risk of a complete deregulation of night work through the removal of all protective measures for women and the failure to replace them with a legislation offering appropriate protection to all night workers. In the light of the preceding observations, the Committee would invite the Government to take appropriate action, and eventually consider ratification of either the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), or the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89), and its Protocol of 1990. While noting that the Government has not provided any information on the consultations undertaken to this effect with public institutions and the social partners, the Committee hopes that the Government will indicate in its next report the progress made in this regard.