Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Thailand (Ratification: 2007)

Implementation of the national policy for the vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. The Committee notes the Government’s first report on the application of the Convention, received in October 2011. It notes that the Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Promotion Act, 2007, includes various measures aimed at the vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and the promotion of their employment. It further notes that the Government adopted the 3rd National Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Development Plan, 2008–11, which covers professional rehabilitation and employment. The Government indicates that, in 2010, 1,698 persons with disabilities used the employment office’s services and 391 were placed in employment. Between 2008 and 2009, 321 persons with disabilities participated in the vocational training courses organized by the regional institutes and provincial centres for skill development and about 200 persons with disabilities successfully completed specific training schemes for persons with particular types of disabilities. In the same period, 268 injured workers out of 294 participants completed the vocational rehabilitation programme. Of these, 178 were reintegrated in their jobs, 56 were self-employed, 26 were placed in new jobs and eight were in family employment. The Committee observes that, according to data available at the ILO, nearly 2 million women and men in Thailand, or approximately 3 per cent of the population, have a disability. Figures from the National Statistics Office 2007 Survey show that 65 per cent of persons with disabilities over the age of 15 were unemployed. Men with disabilities are more likely to have jobs than women with disabilities, 43 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. The Committee invites the Government to provide information in its next report on the implementation of the vocational rehabilitation and employment component of the Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Promotion Act, 2007, as well as on the impact of the 3rd National Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Development Plan, 2008–11, on the integration of persons with disabilities in the open labour market (Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention). The Committee would also welcome continuing to receive statistics and relevant data, as much as possible, disaggregated by age, gender and nature of the disability, as well as extracts of reports, studies and inquiries concerning the matters covered by the Convention (Part V of the report form).

Article 5. Consultation with representative organizations of employers and workers. The Committee notes that organizations of persons with disabilities are represented within the National Committee on the Persons with Disabilities’ Quality of Life Promotion, which is in charge of policy planning with regard to persons with disabilities. The social partners and organizations representing persons with disabilities were consulted in a meeting held on 9 September 2011. The Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information on the manner in which representative employers’ and workers’ organizations are consulted on the implementation of the policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, including the measures to be taken to promote cooperation and coordination between the public and private bodies engaged in vocational rehabilitation services.

Article 7. Services accessible to persons with disabilities. The Government reports on the measures taken by the Department of Skills Development and the Department of Employment under the Ministry of Labour to ensure that persons with disabilities have access to general vocational training and other employment-related services. The Committee notes that the National Plan envisages various projects targeting the vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the impact of measures taken to allow persons with disabilities to secure, retain and advance in employment, as well as on the extent to which services provided to persons with disabilities for these purposes are those available to jobseekers and workers in general.

Article 8. Vocational rehabilitation and employment services in rural areas and remote communities. The Government indicates that vocational guidance and other employment-related services are available to persons with disabilities in the central and provincial employment offices. The Committee observes that a majority of persons with disabilities in Thailand live in rural areas. The Committee invites the Government to provide more detailed information on the vocational rehabilitation and employment services available to persons with disabilities in rural areas and remote communities, as well as on the extent to which these services are those available to jobseekers and workers in general.

Article 9. Training of staff responsible for persons with disabilities. The Government indicates that the Department of Employment organizes seminars every year in order to enhance the skills of its officials as regards the employment of persons with disabilities. The Committee notes that the Department of Skills Development is in charge of the vocational rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the measures taken to improve the capacity of the staff responsible for the vocational training of persons with disabilities at the Department of Skills Development, as well as on the steps taken to train instructors in the general vocational training centres to cater effectively for trainees and students with disabilities.