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Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (RATIFICATION: 1973)

Article 1 of the Convention. 1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government concerning the adoption on 9 April 2003 of Act No. 2450 regulating salaried domestic work. It notes with interest that this Act, at least to a certain extent, secures the application to women domestic workers of certain provisions of the Convention, including Article 3 (maternity leave) and Article 6 (protection against dismissal). However, the Committee notes that the implementing text concerning the affiliation of women domestic workers to the National Social Security Fund, as envisaged in section 24 of Act No. 2450, is still in draft form. The Committee therefore hopes that the necessary texts will be adopted in the near future to secure for this category of women workers in both law and practice the protection envisaged by the social security legislation, not only with regard to medical care, but also cash maternity benefits, under the conditions set forth in Article 4 of the Convention.

The Committee also considers it necessary to supplement Act No. 2450 of 2003 on a number of points that it is raising in a request addressed directly to the Government.

2. In the absence of a reply by the Government to its previous comments concerning the protection of women agricultural workers, the Committee is bound once again to express the firm hope that the necessary measures will be adopted in the near future to ensure that all of these women workers benefit in law and practice from the maternity protection afforded by the national legislation (General Labour Act and Social Security Code).

3. Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information with its next report, including statistics, on the application in practice of the social security scheme (the regions and municipalities covered, the number of employees covered in practice by the protection envisaged by the social security system in relation to the total number of employees) with regard to maternity care and maternity cash benefits.

Article 3, paragraph 2. The Government indicates in its report that it intends to promote the adoption in the near future of the necessary measures to prevent any contradiction between the various provisions of the legislation applicable in relation to maternity leave. The Committee therefore hopes that the relevant provisions of the labour legislation (section 61 of the General Labour Act and Supreme Decree No. 2291 respecting women workers in the public administration) will be aligned in the very near future with those respecting social security (section 31 of Decree No. 13214 of 24 December 1975) so as to establish explicitly and without ambiguity the right to maternity leave of at least 12 weeks, in accordance with the Convention. It considers the adoption of these measures all the more necessary as the social security legislation still does not apply to all the women workers covered by the Convention.

Article 3, paragraph 4. In its reply, the Government states once again that it intends to take measures in the near future to incorporate the Committee’s recommendations into the national legislation. The Committee trusts that the Government will be in a position to provide information in its next report on the measures taken in practice to include in the General Labour Act, the Social Security Code and the legislation respecting the public administration a provision explicitly providing for the possibility of extending prenatal leave where confinement takes place later than the presumed date, without any reduction in the minimum period of postnatal leave of six weeks prescribed by the Convention.

Article 4, paragraphs 1 and 3. The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report concerning the development of a new national health policy and the adoption of the Act respecting universal health insurance for mothers and children (Seguro Universal Materno Infantil - SUMI) on 22 November 2002. It notes in this respect that the principal objectives of the new health policy include the improvement of health services and the proclamation of a right to health guaranteed by the State; with health no longer being considered an exclusive function of the health authorities, but as requiring the involvement of local authorities for the purposes of achieving broader participation by the population and better knowledge of its rights, while refusing the commercialization of the right to health. With regard to the SUMI, which forms part of the first phase of the reform process, the Committee notes that its primary objective is the rapid reduction of maternal and child mortality through the provision, throughout the territory and for all pathologies, of free and full medical care, including surgical care, medical examinations and medicine at all levels, to pregnant women during their pregnancy and up to six months after confinement, and to children under 5 years of age, with specific attention to the particular needs of the rural population. According to the Government’s report, the SUMI therefore constitutes one of the elements for securing the provision of health services that are constantly more accessible and leading up to the establishment of an integral and universal social security scheme, instead of the current situation in which only 24 per cent of the population are covered by the network of health funds of the social security system. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation in practice of the SUMI, with the provision of statistics on the number of women workers in relation to the total number of employees and the number of women workers who have received care from the health services in the context of the SUMI, with an indication of the nature of the care received. Please also provide copies of the implementing regulations envisaged in section 10 of the Act of 22 November 2002. The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would provide information with its next report on the results achieved and the difficulties encountered in the implementation of the new national health policy.

Article 4, paragraphs 4, 5 and 8. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to ensure the provision of maternity benefits: (i) by means of public funds for women who are not yet covered by the social security scheme; and (ii) in the context of public assistance for those who fail to meet the qualifying conditions prescribed by the Social Security Code.

Article 5. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain a reply to its previous comments. In these conditions, it is bound to request the Government once again to indicate in its next report the measures adopted or envisaged to supplement the legislation respecting conditions of employment in the public administration with a provision explicitly granting entitlement to nursing breaks for women workers in this sector.