Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Eritrea (Ratification: 2000)

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Article 1 of the Convention. Protection against discrimination. Definition of discrimination. Prohibited grounds of discrimination. Legislation. For more than ten years, the Committee has been asking the Government to amend the Labour Proclamation No. 118 of 2011, so as to provide explicitly for protection of all workers from discrimination based on national extraction, and to ensure that the draft Civil Service Proclamation prohibits discrimination on all the grounds set out in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, including national extraction and social origin. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that: (1) it has taken due note of the Committee’s comments regarding the terms “national extraction” and “social origin”; (2) it is aware that workers should be protected from discrimination not only by employers and their representatives, but also by work colleagues and even clients of enterprises, or other persons in the work context; and (3) both the draft Labour and Civil Service Proclamations will be transmitted to the Office, once measures are taken over the general laws according to the priorities set. The Committee recalls that previously, the Government has been providing information on draft amendments to these pieces of legislation. The Committee notes with regret that to date no such amendment has been adopted and Eritrea still has no national assembly to adopt laws, including those regulating fundamental rights (see A/HRC/50/20, 6 May 2022, paragraph 36; A/HRC/47/21, 12 May 2021, paragraph 30). It further notes that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea recommended the Government to “[r]econvene the national assembly to adopt laws and to enable the Eritrean people to participate freely in the public affairs of their country, as an important step towards building a democratic society, ensuring the separation of powers and providing checks and balances as inherent requirements of the rule of law in the country” (A/HRC/47/21, paragraph 81(b)). The Committee emphasizes that where legal provisions are adopted to give effect to the principle of the Convention, they should include at least all of the grounds of discrimination specified in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, as well as a clear and comprehensive definition of discrimination. The Committee urges that the Government will make every effort to: (i) ensure that the labour legislation is amended so as to include explicit definitions of direct and indirect discrimination in employment and occupation; (ii) take the necessary steps in consultation with the social partners to ensure that amendments to the Labour Proclamation are adopted rapidly so as to provide explicitly for the protection of all workers against discrimination based on national extraction; and (iii) take concrete steps to ensure that the draft Civil Service Proclamation includes a clear prohibition of discrimination on the basis of at least all the grounds set out in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention, including national extraction and social origin.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.