Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Gabon (Ratification: 1961)

With reference to its previous direct requests, the Committee notes the Government's very brief report.

1. The Committee notes the Government's indication that statistical data on persons employed in the private sector are not yet available but that it hopes to send them under separate cover. In this connection, it also notes the statement made by the Gabon Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA) to the effect that there is no question of reliable statistics on employment, disaggregated by sex, national extraction, age, etc. becoming available for the time being and that an attempt by COSYGA to obtain such information (by sending out questionnaires to various enterprises) failed in 1990. The Committee draws the Government's attention to paragraph 247 of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation, in which it indicates that improvement in the means available for compiling information on direct and indirect forms of discrimination based for example on sex, national extraction and all the other grounds listed in the Convention is indispensable if progress is to be made in the elimination of discrimination and the promotion of equality. The Committee therefore hopes that in its next report the Government will provide the information requested, and particularly statistical data on the distribution of workers in the private sector disaggregated by sex, and if possible, national extraction, age, etc.

2. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on any positive measures taken or contemplated to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation and to eliminate all discrimination, particularly on grounds of sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, and to report on the results obtained. In this connection, the Committee refers to paragraphs 15, 157 and 170 of its 1988 General Survey, in which it stresses the positive nature of the measures required to implement the national policy provided for in Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention and the need to provide particulars of action undertaken and the results obtained.

3. The Committee again asks the Government to provide information (statistics, studies and reports, if any) on any further improvement in women's access to jobs in the public sector, not only to posts and occupations traditionally held by women, but also to those which are not, and to posts of responsibility.