Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

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

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's reports.

1. It notes with interest the adoption, with the technical assistance of the ILO, of Act No. 3/94 of 21 November 1994 to issue the new Labour Code, section 8 of which prohibits any discrimination in employment and conditions of work on the basis of all the criteria set out in Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention. It also notes that, in accordance with section 103 of the Code, workers of both sexes have the same right of access to all vocational training, further training and retraining institutions. The Committee requests the Government to provide information with its next report in order to enable it to ascertain that the provisions of the new Code are given effect in practice, and particularly to supply statistical data on the participation of women in the various courses provided by the vocational training, further training and retraining institutions covered by sections 98 to 103.

2. The Committee notes that the Government considers, contrary to the opinion of the Trade Union Confederation of Gabon (COSYGA) noted in its previous direct request, that with better collaboration among the social partners and between them and the Government, it would be easy to compile a national file of enterprises and to provide employment statistics at regular intervals. In this respect, it counts on the effectiveness of the Employment Office to produce reliable statistics in the near future. The Committee once again hopes that the next report will contain statistical data on the distribution of workers in the public and private sectors, disaggregated by sex. It would be grateful to receive detailed information on the specific measures taken, and the results achieved, to increase the participation of women in public and private employment, and not only in posts and occupations traditionally held by women, which are generally of a low level of skills and responsibility, but also to technical and industrial jobs, managerial posts and positions of responsibility, where women are still a very small minority. It would also be grateful to receive a copy of the national report on the situation of women in Gabon submitted to the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995.

3. It also requests the Government to attach to its next report statistics on employed persons, if possible disaggregated by sex and national extraction, compiled from the general census of population and habitat carried out in July 1993, which the Government stated were attached to the report, but which have not been received by the Office.