Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Qatar (Ratification: 1976)

Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report.

1. With regard to protection against discrimination on the basis of political opinion, the Government indicates that the employment services of the Ministry of Labour for the private sector and the committee responsible for the assignment of graduates to public sector jobs take no account of political opinion. Similarly no restriction based on this criterion is made when allocating study grants, educational leave and training courses for officials, who are governed by Act No. 9 of 1976.

The Committee takes due note of this information. It hopes that the Government will be able to take the appropriate measures to enshrine the above practice in an explicit legal provision prohibiting any discrimination on the basis of political opinion.

2. With regard to access to employment in the judiciary, without discrimination on the basis of sex or religion, the Committee notes that section 19 of Act No. 8 of 1985, to amend certain provisions of Act No. 13 of 1971 on judicial courts, establishes the conditions for access to the various judicial positions and relates fundamentally to qualifications and experience without any discrimination. (The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would supply the text of Act No. 13 of 1971.) It also notes the Government's statement that all citizens profess the same religion, namely Islam, and that several women nationals of Qatar currently occupy judicial positions in the Ministry of Justice. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the number of women and the positions that they occupy in the judiciary.

3. The Committee notes the Act respecting the civil public service, which was supplied previously by the Government. It notes that under the terms of section 82 of the Act, "it is possible to terminate the employment contract of pregnant nurses at the fifth month of pregnancy and even before the date of expiry of the contract if the interests of work so require". The Committee refers in this connection to paragraph 41 of its 1988 General Survey on Equality in Employment and Occupation in which it emphasised the discriminatory nature of distinctions made on the basis of pregnancy and confinement due to the fact that they can only affect women. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures to eliminate the discrimination that is made against nurses under section 82 of the above Act. It requests the Government to supply information on this subject in its next report.

4. With regard to the access of men and women to vocational training, jobs and various occupations, the Committee notes the Government's statement that the social services sector not only employs the great majority of women who work but also the majority of men, since 68 per cent of Qatar nationals in the active population were employed in that sector in 1986.

The Committee also notes with interest that, according to the Government's report, women now work in certain sections of the police, at the airport and in the banking sector and that the technology university established in 1990 provides women with the opportunity to specialise in fields such as electronics, accountancy and chemistry, physics and biology laboratories. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the categories of jobs in which women are employed in these sectors and their number in relation to men.

In this connection, the Committee recalls the information provided previously by the Government that certain schools and training institutions are still reserved for male students due to religious and social traditions which do not permit mixed teaching. It requests the Government to continue supplying information on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged in order to ensure equality between men and women in respect of vocational training and access to all types of employment and to ensure that educational and vocational training programmes do not lead women only into "women's" jobs.

5. Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to supply information on appeals that have been brought in the fields covered by the Convention before the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Housing which is the competent authority to receive complaints, and on the cases that were transmitted or brought directly before the labour court (number and nature of the complaints).