Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Pakistan (Ratification: 1994)

Promotion of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The Committee notes the report submitted by the Government in June 2011 including a copy of the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance, 1981. The Government states that it is complying with the provisions of the Convention through the application of the abovementioned Ordinance. It also indicates that organizations are required to employ persons with disabilities according to fixed quotas which are notified by the federal and provincial governments. The Government further reports that Special Education Departments are functioning in all four provinces to educate children with disabilities and to rehabilitate them through vocational training. The Committee recalls the remarks made by the Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) indicating that the vocational education and training facilities provided by the State to the rehabilitation of workers with disabilities are insufficient. PWF also suggested that the Government should increase the quotas for the employment of persons with disabilities in the public and private sectors so that they can be rehabilitated and obtain gainful employment after receiving vocational education and training. The Committee refers to its previous comments and asks the Government to provide information on measures taken in the context of its policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, both at federal and provincial levels (Articles 3 and 7 of the Convention). The Committee also asks the Government to include relevant information supported by statistics disaggregated by sex on the implementation of the Convention, as well as on the activities of the National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (NCRDP) (Part V of the report form).

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]