Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) - Mali (Ratification: 2008)

Amendment of the Labour Code. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government, including the reference to a Bill which is being drafted to amend the Labour Code (Act No. 92-020 of 23 September 1992). The Committee hopes that the Government will take account of its comments by including provisions that expressly: extend the period of compulsory postnatal leave from four to six weeks (Article 4 of the Convention); extend the period of employment protection provided for in sections L.183 and L.326(2) of the Labour Code to the period of pregnancy and a prescribed period following the woman’s return to work (Article 8(1)); add provisions to the Labour Code that guarantee women workers the right to return to the same position or an equivalent position paid at the same rate at the end of their maternity leave (Article 8(2)).

Article 9 of the Convention. Non-discrimination. In reply to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government refers to section L.305(2) of the draft amended Labour Code, which provides that fee-charging employment agencies must not subject workers to discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political views, national extraction, social origin or any other recognized form of discrimination. The Committee emphasizes that, in order to give full effect to Article 9 of the Convention concerning discrimination on the basis of maternity, the Labour Code must: (1) explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of maternity; (2) provide for the specific measures referred to in Article 9; (3) impose on all employers, not just on fee-charging employment agencies, the obligation to abide by these provisions; and (4) establish effective penalties for any cases of discrimination on the basis of maternity. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to incorporate these principles in the new Labour Code.