Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Saint Lucia (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes with regret that, for the fifth consecutive time, the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee notes that "discrimination" is defined and prohibited in article 13 of the Constitution, subject to certain exceptions:

(a) The Committee notes that social origin is not included among the bases of discrimination prohibited under article 13. The Government is asked to provide information in its next report on measures taken or envisaged to declare a national policy designed to promote the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation based on social origin.

(b) With respect to the exceptions provided in subsection 4 of article 13, the Committee notes that the prohibition of discrimination in subsection 1 of that article shall not apply to any law so far as that law makes provision:

(i) for the appropriation of public revenues or other public funds;

(ii) with respect to persons who are not citizens;

(iii) for the application, in the case of persons of any such description as is mentioned in subsection 3 (or of persons connected with such persons), of the law with respect to adoption, marriage, divorce, burial, devolution of property on death or other like matters which is the personal law of persons of that description;

(iv) whereby persons of any such description as is mentioned in subsection 3 may be subjected to any disability or restriction or may be accorded any privilege or advantage that, having regard to its nature and to special circumstances pertaining to those persons or to persons of any other such description, is reasonably justified in a democratic society.

The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the exceptions mentioned above are not applied so broadly as to make lawful discrimination which would otherwise be contrary to the requirements of the Convention. In particular, the Committee requests that the Government provide with its next report examples of discrimination against persons covered by subsection 3 of this article, considered to fall within each of the four exceptions in subsection 4, and which relate in any manner to equality of opportunity and treatment in employment. As concerns subsection 4(b), the Committee points out that while "nationality" is not a prohibited ground of discrimination under Article 1 of the Convention, the wording of this provision of the Constitution would appear to allow the adoption of a law removing non-citizens from the Convention's protection in respect of other prohibited grounds.

(c) The Committee requests the Government to provide more detailed information, including practical examples, on the meaning and application in practice of the exception in subsection 5, which states that "nothing contained in any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of subsection 1 (the general prohibition of discriminatory laws) ... to the extent that it makes provision with respect to standards or qualifications (not being standards or qualifications specifically relating to sex, race, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed) to be required of any person who is appointed to or to act in any office or employment".

(d) The Committee requests the Government to provide more detailed information, including copies of administrative or judicial decisions, on the application in practice of the exceptions provided for in article 13(7) and those other sections and subsections of the Constitution cited therein.

2. Article 2. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures taken to promote the inclusion in collective agreements of provisions supporting equality of treatment and opportunity in employment and occupation.

3. The Committee notes the Government's statement that there is no discrimination in access to employment in Saint Lucia. The Committee recalls that the Convention broadly applies to employment and occupation, including, among other substantive fields, access to training and vocational guidance, placement opportunities, self-employed occupations and employment in the public service, as well as equality in respect of promotion, security of tenure, equal remuneration, social security and other conditions of employment. In this regard, the Government is referred to paragraphs 76 to 123 of the Committee's 1988 General Survey on equality in employment and occupation. The Committee also wishes to point out that the Government's obligations under the Convention extend not only to prohibiting and suppressing discrimination in areas under its direct control, but also to promoting acceptance throughout the country of a policy of non-discrimination. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report with respect to measures taken or envisaged to promote a policy of equality of opportunity and treatment in the above-mentioned substantive fields.

4. Article 3. The Committee notes the Government's statement that the Labour Code, although not enacted, is used as guidance by the Labour Department. The Committee notes that the Labour Code was drafted with the assistance of the ILO in 1977, prior to ratification of the Convention in 1983. The draft available to the Committee provides only for prohibition of discrimination as it applies to dismissal from employment. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the Labour Code has been adopted, and if so to forward a copy. If it has not been adopted, please indicate which provisions are being used as guidance by the Labour Department in connection with the present Convention. The Government is asked to provide information on the activities of the Labour Department undertaken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation.

5. The Committee notes the Government's statement that no statute or administrative rules seem to be contradictory to the principles of the Convention. The Committee asks the Government whether the Agricultural Worker (Minimum Wage) (Amendment) Order 1979, and the Contract of Service Act 1970, are still in force and, if not, to send with its next report a copy of the legislation repealing or replacing this legislation (see also under Convention No. 100). Please indicate also whether the Factory Regulations, 1948, in particular Part III, "Boys under sixteen and women", is still in force and, if not, please send a copy of the legislation repealing or replacing them.

6. The Committee notes the Government's statement that educational programmes on non-discrimination are provided through schools and that employers' and workers' organizations are responsible for speeding information to their members. The Committee asks the Government to provide with its next report more detailed information on these programmes, in particular, details of the content of these informational programmes and efforts, the frequency of their presentation and their audiences.

7. The Committee notes the Government's statement that progress is being made in ensuring the acceptance of the principles of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the specific types of progress (such as, for example, greater integration of minorities in the active population, narrowing of wage and income gaps between racial, ethnic, social or sex groups, increased selection of non-traditional (sex-stereotyped) jobs, etc.) which have been made, how this progress has come about and what measures are being taken to ensure that this progress continues.

8. The Government is asked to provide a copy of any promotional publications or other material, including administrative guidelines or circulars, annual, special or periodic reports, or the like, promoting equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation produced by the Ministry of Health, Housing and Labour and/or the Women's Desk.

9. Article 5. The Committee notes the statement in the report that measures of positive discrimination would be acceptable under the Saint Lucia Constitution. It refers to article 13(3) of the Constitution, which appears to prohibit such positive discrimination. Please indicate how this article of the Constitution has been applied in practice.

10. The Committee notes from Case No. 1447 of the Committee on Freedom of Association (270th Report, February-March 1990), that section 23(3) of the Teaching Service Regulations, No. 41 of 1977, provides that "an unmarried teacher who becomes pregnant shall be dismissed upon becoming pregnant a second time if still unmarried". As this provision would not appear to be consonant with a prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation on the basis of sex, the Committee requests the Government to indicate what measures it has taken or are contemplated in this regard.

11. Please provide the information requested in points III, IV and V of the report form on the practical application of the Convention.