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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Dominican Republic (Ratification: 1964)

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The Committee notes the observations of the National Confederation of Trade Union Unity (CNUS), the Autonomous Confederation of Workers’ Unions (CASC) and the National Confederation of Dominican Workers (CNTD), received on 3 September 2018 and 14 July 2022.

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on the grounds of colour, race or national extraction. The Committee notes with regret that the Government does not provide any information in reply to its previous observation. The Committee notes that, according to the CNUS, CASC and CNTD, there are cases of discrimination against Haitians. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Human Rights Committee refers to systematic racial discrimination against persons of Haitian descent and the vulnerable situation of Haitian migrants (CCPR/C/DOM/CO/6, 27 November 2017, paragraph 9). The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary steps to combat discrimination against Haitian workers and Dominicans of Haitian origin and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation for these workers, ensuring that migration status or lack of documentation does not exacerbate their vulnerability to discrimination in employment and occupation on the grounds covered by the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on this matter. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on any complaints of discrimination submitted by workers of Haitian origin or dark-skinned Dominicans, the follow-up action taken, sanctions imposed and remedies granted.

Discrimination on the basis of sex. Sexual harassment and mandatory pregnancy testing to secure or retain employment. The Committee notes with regret that the Government does not provide information in reply to its previous observation. The Committee notes the indications from the CNUS, CNTD and CASC that: (1) cases of pregnancy testing persist, and the measures taken to combat sexual harassment in the workplace are insufficient; and (2) workers do not report these cases to the Ministry of Labour for fear of losing their jobs or not having sufficient evidence. The Committee also notes the “Strategic Plan for a life free of violence for women”, adopted in 2020, which: (1) addresses, among other forms of violence against women, work-related violence, defined as violence “against women in the work environment, in the public or private sector, in the formal or informal economy, which obstructs them by restricting or impeding their access to work, recruitment, career advancement, job stability or permanence, as well as requirements regarding their civil or family status, age, physical appearance, requests for pregnancy or HIV testing, or others relating to their health status, outside what is established in the legal frameworks”; (2) addresses any act whose intention or result is a hostile work environment, such as sexual harassment; and (3) sets out six strategic areas for action, namely: prevention; detection; comprehensive care; investigation; prosecution and sanctions; and full remedies. The Committee urges the Government to: (i) provide information on the measures taken under the six strategic areas of the “Strategic Plan for a life free of violence for women”, adopted in 2020; (ii) take the necessary measures to ensure that legal provisions are adopted that define and expressly prohibit both quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment; (iii) take the necessary measures without delay to establish an explicit prohibition in law of mandatory pregnancy testing to secure or retain employment; and (iv) send information on all progress made in this respect, and also on complaints made in relation to sexual harassment and mandatory pregnancy testing, the follow-up action taken, sanctions imposed and remedies granted.

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