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Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Ethiopia (RATIFICATION: 1991)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Articles 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 of the Convention. National policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. Access to the open labour market for persons with disabilities. Suitably qualified staff. The Government indicates in its report that a 2011 directive was issued and sent to all legal entities for the effective implementation of the Right to Employment of Persons with Disability Proclamation No. 568/2008. The Government further indicates that persons with disabilities are not fully participating in employment or vocational rehabilitation measures and, consequently, the vast majority of persons with disabilities of working age remain unemployed. The Committee notes from the report that this low level of participation may be partially caused by the insufficient number of professionals providing assistance and services to persons with disabilities. The Committee further notes that the Government is currently the major employer of persons with disabilities. While being aware of a deficit in available accurate nationwide data, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs indicates that a total of 2,140 persons with disabilities (1,444 men and 696 women) were employed in government institutions in 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities and on the impact of the measures taken to promote employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the open labour market. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure the availability of suitably qualified vocational rehabilitation staff. Please also provide information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for example, statistics disaggregated by sex, extracts from reports, studies and inquiries on the matters covered by the Convention.

Article 5. Consultation of the social partners. The Government indicates that all policies, plans of action and directives have been developed with the active participation of organizations of persons with disabilities. Moreover, these organizations and their umbrella federations are included in a national monitoring committee. The Government further states that a national committee has been established which is comprised of most of the executive sectors and representative employers’ and workers’ organizations. In addition to the national committee, many Government institutions have recently developed participatory mechanisms in which all relevant stakeholders are invited to participate in planning, reporting and evaluating government policies and programmes. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details of the consultations held with employers’ and workers’ organizations and organizations of and for persons with disabilities on the implementation of a national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities.

Article 8. Services in rural areas and remote communities. The Government indicates that, while there are only few vocational training centres in rural areas which provide technical and vocational training for persons with disabilities, there are initiatives aimed at engaging persons with disabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, persons with disabilities are provided with start-up capital, market and credit services. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the impact of the activities of the technical and vocational training centres in rural areas and remote communities.