Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1949)

Article 3 of the Convention. Prohibition of night work for women. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the question of the possible ratification of the 1990 Protocol to Convention No. 89 is scheduled to be examined by the Tripartite Committee for Consultation and Dialogue in a process that will involve all social partners and relevant bodies. In this connection, the Committee wishes to draw once more the Government’s attention to the fact that member States are increasingly required to initiate a review process of their protective legislation aiming at the gradual elimination of any provisions which would be contrary to the principle of equal treatment between men and women, except those connected with maternity protection, and with due account being taken of national circumstances. This trend reflects also the growing expectation that the same standards of protection should apply to men and women alike in accordance with the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and also the widely ratified UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will give favourable consideration to the possibility of modernizing its legislation by ratifying either the 1990 Protocol to Convention No. 89, which opens up the possibility for women to work at night under certain well-specified conditions, or the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), which is not devised as a gender-specific instrument but focuses on the protection of all night workers in all branches and occupations. The Committee recalls that the Government may wish to seek the assistance of the Office with a view to better understanding the possibilities and implications of each of these two instruments and revising existing legislation accordingly. It requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this regard.