Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Brazil (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes with regret 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 the Government's report does not reply to the questions that have been raised by the Committee in its comments for several years.

1. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to section 482, sole subsection, of the Labour Code, under which the perpetration, duly proved by administrative inquiry, of acts endangering national security constitutes just cause for the dismissal of an employee. The Committee observed that a provision of this kind leaves a wide margin regarding the reason that may be invoked for dismissal. The Committee requested the Government to furnish information enabling it to assess the scope of the provision. The Committee noted that, according to the Government, since acts endangering national security are the subject of special laws, the sole subsection of section 482 has not been applied in practice.

The Committee noted the Bill respecting the defence of the democratic State, published in the Official Gazette of 29 January 1986, which provides for the repeal of Act No. 7170 of 14 December 1983, defining crimes against national security. The Committee requests the Government to state whether this draft has been adopted and to take the necessary measures to remove all uncertainty concerning the scope of the single subsection of section 482 of the Labour Code.

2. The Committee noted Act No. 7437 of 20 December 1985, which includes acts of discrimination based on prejudice concerning race, colour, sex or marital status, among other penal offences. This Act brings up to date Act No. 1390 of 3 July 1951. Under section 7 of Act No. 7437 simple imprisonment of from three months to one year and a fine are imposed on any person who refuses to register a candidate for entry to an educational establishment of any type or level on the grounds of race, colour, sex or marital status. If the establishment is an official one, the sentence will be the removal of the official from his post. Section 8 provides for the dismissal of an official who obstructs the access of a person to a public civilian or military post on the same grounds. Under section 9, a person who refuses access to employment or work in autonomous state bodies, semi-state companies, undertakings providing public services or private undertakings on the grounds of race, colour, sex or marital status can be punished with simple imprisonment of from three months to one year and a fine.

The Committee also noted that a section had been set up under the Council for the Defence of Human Rights (established by Act No. 4319 of 16 March 1964) to investigate accusations brought for acts of discrimination on any ground whatever (CERD/C/149/Add.3).

The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the practical application of Act No. 7437, particularly in respect of the cases that have resulted in the application of sections 7, 8 and 9 concerning penalties imposed for acts conflicting with the principle of the prohibition of discrimination in access to training and employment. The Committee would also be grateful to receive information on the activities of the Council for the Defence of Human Rights, and particularly those of the section set up to investigate discriminatory acts on any ground whatever.

3. The Committee noted certain information published in the Social and Labour Bulletin of the ILO (SLB 2/86) on the basis of a study carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics "O lugar do negro na foróa de trabalho" in 1985.

With reference to the distribution of employment, it is observed that 8.5 per cent of the White population follow occupational activities of a higher level, whereas the figure for the Black population is 1.1 per cent. With regard to education, the data indicate that the highest rate of illiteracy is to be found among the Black and Mulatto population, irrespective of age group or sex. An analysis of the average income of workers in relation to the duration of studies shows that at the same level of schooling the income of the Black population is 40 to 60 per cent of that of the White population.

The Committee notes with interest the project "Racial discrimination in the labour market" contained in the 1987 plan of activities of the Ministry of Labour (attached to the report transmitted by the Government on Convention No. 142). The project proposes to examine the institutional mechanisms of discrimination in the labour market.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the implementation of the above project and on any other measure that has been taken or is envisaged in order to implement the principle of equality set forth in the Convention.

4. The Committee notes that section 446 of the Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT) entitles the husband to bring an action for the cancellation of the contract of employment if its continuance would constitute a menace to the family tie.

The Committee refers to paragraphs 38 et seq. of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation in which it refers to the archaic and stereotyped concepts which give rise to acts of discrimination on grounds of sex and which result in the nullification or impairment of equality of opportunity and treatment.

The Committee points out that, in accordance with Article 3(c) of the Convention, each Member for which it is in force undertakes, by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice, to repeal any statutory provisions and modify any administrative instructions or practices which are inconsistent with the principles of equality set out in the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to bring the national legislation into accordance with the Convention, and to indicate the progress achieved in this respect.