Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Sudan (Ratification: 1970)

The Committee notes 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:

1. The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that very few cases on racial discrimination in employment have been presented to the courts and that such cases, where they occur, concern conditions of employment. It asks the Government to provide information on the issues which arose in these cases, and to continue in its future reports to keep the Committee informed of cases involving discrimination in employment on the basis of race.

2. As the Government's report contains no details regarding the racial composition of the courts, tribunals and police forces of the country and of measures taken or contemplated by the Government to facilitate access of persons of non-Arab extraction to posts in the judicial system, the Committee is obliged to repeat its request for such information.

3. The Committee notes the Government's statement that although the Passports and Immigration Act, 1970, requires approval of the husband and guardian in case of travel, this measure does not affect women's access to education, training and employment where it falls within the scope of the National Training Act of 1976 and the Training Regulations, which define government-sponsored trainees as being any public official, regardless of sex, and entitles a government-sponsored female trainee to the same rights as those of men. However, noting that the legislation refers only to training, and only in the public sector, the Committee requests the Government to indicate how the provisions in the 1970 Act affect access to education, vocational training or employment which might require foreign travel for women in the private sector, and, likewise, access to employment requiring travel in the public sector. Please supply copies of relevant legislative provisions.

4. Noting the Government's statement that no measures of any kind have been taken against persons disobeying the instructions issued requiring women in public posts to wear apparel in conformity with the Shari'a, the Committee nevertheless repeats its request for a copy of the instructions in question.

5. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply a copy of the Public Service Act, 1994, and the Public Service Regulations, 1995.