Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Cameroon (Ratification: 1970)

The Committee notes the Government's report for the period ending June 1992 and the information which it contains in reply to its previous request. It would be grateful if the Government would supply additional information in its next report on the following points:

1. The Committee notes the list of activities undertaken by the National Employment Fund (FNE). It notes, according to the Government, that the current computerization of the FNE's files should facilitate the formulation of a policy to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment, and that studies of labour market trends have been undertaken in various sectors, including the informal sector. The Committee, however, notes that the results of the national manpower survey are still not available. It requests the Government to report the results achieved by measures intended to ensure that employment policies are based on as precise a knowledge as possible of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the labour market. Please supply all the statistics on employment, underemployment and unemployment collected by means of these measures.

2. The Government describes in its report the launching of training programmes. Please supply detailed information on the nature of these programmes, their beneficiaries and their employment objectives. The Government also states that a draft text respecting the general organization of vocational training and guidance is intended to adapt the vocational training and guidance system to the labour needs of the economy. Please describe the principal provisions of this draft text and supply a copy of the text when it has been adopted. Please describe any measure which has been adopted to coordinate education and training policies with prospective employment opportunities.

3. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the promotion of self-employment should prove to be a means of absorbing the additional labour which is resulting from the growth of the active population. It notes the statement that programmes for self-employment and support projects for micro-enterprises are under examination or being implemented. Please supply detailed information on the progress achieved by these programmes and projects, with an indication of the results which have been acheived or which are expected. Please specify the nature of the measures which have been taken or are envisaged to facilitate the access of small enterprises to the market, to credit and to advanced technologies. Please state the reasons which led to the reduction in the scope of the young enterpreneurs project which was undertaken with the technical cooperation of the ILO (Part V of the report form).

4. The Committee notes the establishment of an industrial "free zone" and the adoption in November 1990 of an Investment Code which includes provisions to encourage investments which create employment and foreign investment, particularly through tax exemptions. Please state the results which are achieved by these measures in terms of employment creation. Please also state the measures which have been taken with a view to diminishing the rural exodus and promoting both agricultural and non-agricultural rural employment. Please supply the text of Ordinance No. 90.001 (free zone) and Ordinance No. 90.007 (the Investment Code), of 1990, which are not available in the ILO.

5. More generally, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate, with reference to the questions set out in the report form, the manner in which account is taken of employment objectives, particularly in the context of the implementation of the second structural adjustment programme agreed upon with the IMF in December 1991, in the adoption of overall development policy measures, in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 3, and Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the statement that the holding of a symposium gathering together the representatives of the persons affected by employment problems is envisaged. The Committee is bound to emphasize the importance which it attaches, particularly in the context of structural adjustment, to giving full effect to Article 3 of the Convention respecting the consultation of the representatives of the persons concerned. It recalls that these consultations concerning employment policies should, in addition to the representatives of employers' and workers' organizations, include representatives of other important sectors of the economically active population, such as the rural sector and the informal sector, "with the view to taking fully into account their experience and views and securing their full cooperation in formulating and enlisting support for such policies". The Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report progress in this respect.