Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Bahrain (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the report provided by the Government in October 2010 containing detailed replies to the 2005 direct request.

Article 2 of the Convention. National policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. The Committee notes the adoption of new instruments to implement the Convention through Act No. 74 of 2006, which relates to the welfare, rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities and Order No. 62 of 2007, related to the establishment of the Higher Committee for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. The Government indicates that its policies related to providing services to persons with disabilities are formulated and implemented by the Ministry of Social Development and that the welfare of persons with disabilities was included in the national reform project. It also recalls that under section 21 of the Labour Law, employers were obliged to employ a quota of 2 per cent of people with disabilities in a workplace with 100 workers. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report how the quota system has contributed to provide employment to people with disabilities in both the public and the private sectors. It also requests the Government to describe the manner in which the measures taken under Act No. 74 of 2006 and Order No. 62 of 2007 have succeeded in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities. It further invites the Government to include in its next report statistics disaggregated, as much as possible, by age, sex and the nature of the disability, as well as extracts from reports, studies and inquiries, concerning the matters covered by the Convention (Part V of the report form).

Article 3. Access to the open labour market and services available for persons with disabilities. The Committee notes that efforts are coordinated through various centres for vocational rehabilitation measures and the promotion of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities by the Ministry of Social Development. These measures include the training of persons with disabilities on acquiring the necessary rehabilitation and vocational skills to find a job which suits the preferences of the person, as well as the needs of the labour market. The Government further indicates that these centres provide job opportunities and recruitment of persons with disabilities in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour. The Government reports on the career empowerment programme which supports the recruitment process of persons with disabilities and is implemented within 29 weeks by a specialized team of vocational trainers and recruitment specialists. The programme provides training to acquire different skills and to find jobs which suit their capacities. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the vocational rehabilitation measures that are made available to all categories of persons with disabilities and the manner in which their employment opportunities are promoted in the open labour market.

Article 5. Consultation of the representative organizations of employers and workers. The Committee again invites the Government to indicate in its next report how organizations of employers and workers, as well as organizations of, and for, persons with disabilities are involved in the matters covered by the Convention.

Article 9. Suitably qualified staff to provide services for persons with disabilities. The Committee again invites the Government to provide information on the action taken to ensure the training and availability of rehabilitation counsellors and other suitably qualified staff responsible for the vocational guidance, vocational training, placement and employment of disabled persons.