Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1959)

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on grounds of sex. The Committee notes with interest the adoption in 2017 of Basic Act No. 2017-58 of 11 August 2017, concerning the elimination of violence against women. It notes that this Act aims to eliminate all forms of violence against women through the implementation of preventive measures, the pursuit and repression of the authors of violence, and protection and support of victims (section 1). This Act applies to all forms of discrimination and violence to which women are subjected, regardless of perpetrator and place (section 2). The Committee notes that the Act defines and sanctions various types of violence, including: (1) physical violence (any abusive or harmful act undermining the physical integrity or safety of the woman or her life, such as punching, kicking, wounding, shoving, disfigurement, burning, mutilation of certain parts of the body, sequestration, torture and homicide); (2) sexual violence (any act or words by which the author seeks to subject the woman to his own sexual desires or to the sexual desires of others, by coercion, trickery, or other means, of a nature to weaken or undermine the will, and this regardless of the relation of the author to the victim); (3) political violence (any act or practice based on gender discrimination by which the author seeks to deprive the woman of, or prevent her from exercising, any political, partisan or associative activity, or any basic freedom); and (4) economic violence (any act or omission of a nature to exploit women or deprive them of economic resources, regardless of the origin of such resources, including the withholding of funds, wages or income, control of wages or income, and forbidding or coercing the performance of work) (section 3). The Committee also notes that according to section 5 of the Basic Act No. 2017-58 of 11 August 2017, the State commits to formulating national policies, strategic plans and common or sectoral programmes and to establish the regulations and take the measures required for their implementation with a view to eliminating all forms of violence against women within the family, in the social environment, in education, in vocational training, in health, culture, sport and in the media. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice on Act No. 2017/58 in the field of work, indicating the measures taken or envisaged under the abovementioned national policies, strategic plans and common or sectoral programmes to reduce sexist violence in employment and occupation. In particular please provide information on the measures taken to inform and raise the awareness of employers, workers and their organizations, labour inspectors, judges and the public at large of the contents of Basic Act No. 2017-58 concerning the elimination of violence against women and more generally of the combat against gender based violence.

Sexual harassment. The Committee notes that, according to section 15 of the abovementioned law, section 226ter of the Penal Code on sexual harassment has been amended and now provides an increased penalty of imprisonment of two years (as opposed to one year previously) and a fine of up to 5000 dinars (US$2000). According to the same article of the Penal Code: “sexual harassment is considered as any aggression of another person by acts, gestures or words carrying sexual connotations that offend or undermine the person’s dignity with the aim of inducing the person to submit to the sexual desires of the aggressor or of others, or by exercising over the person a dangerous pressure likely to weaken the person’s capacity of resistance”. The Committee recalls that, addressing sexual harassment only through criminal proceedings is normally not sufficient, due to the sensitivity of the issue, the higher burden of proof, which is harder to meet, especially if there are no witnesses (which is often the case) and the fact that criminal law generally focuses on sexual assault or “immoral acts”, and not the full range of behaviour that constitutes sexual harassment in employment and occupation. The Committee notes that this definition covers only sexual harassment, as aggression of a person through acts or words, but does not cover all behaviour that constitutes sexual harassment in employment and occupation, namely: (1) sexual harassment that resembles blackmail (quid pro quo harassment or harassment involving a request for a sexual act in exchange for an advantage or removal of a threat) on the one hand; and (2) harassment due to a hostile, intimidating, degrading, offensive or humiliating working environment on the other. The Committee also notes that the Government provides no information on the measures taken or on existing mechanisms to allow victims of sexual harassment to claim redress. The Committee requests the Government to: (i) consider incorporating in its legislation a provision to define and expressly prohibit sexual harassment in employment and occupation in both its forms (quid pro quo and hostile working environment); and (ii) ensure that the victims of sexual harassment have access to effective remedies. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on awareness-raising and training activities carried out on harassment for the public, workers and employers and their organizations, as well as for law enforcement agents, labour inspectors and judges.

Article 2. National equality policy. Equality of access to vocational education, training and guidance in rural areas. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on measures taken to promote equality of access to vocational education, training and guidance of populations living in rural areas, as compared to populations in urban centres, and on the results achieved, especially as regards the situation of girls and women in rural areas. In this connection, the Committee notes the Government’s report on the national-level review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995 (Beijing +25 national report), which announces the adoption of the “National strategy for the economic and social empowerment of girls and women in rural areas, 2017-2020”. According to the data on which the Strategy is based: 32.4 per cent of girls and women in Tunisia live in rural areas, where they represent 50.4 per cent of the total rural population. These women are subject to cultural, social and economic constraints that restrict their access to the labour market and to decent, paid employment. The Strategy adopted reposes on five pillars: (1) economic empowerment; (2) social empowerment; (3) participation in public life and local governance; (4) improvement of the quality of life; and (5) production of statistical data. The Committee requests the Government to provide: information on the impact of the implementation of the National Strategy for the economic and social empowerment of girls and women in rural areas, 2017-2020; on the combat against inequality of access to vocational education, training and guidance from which girls and women living in rural areas suffer; and updated statistical data, disaggregated by sex, that demonstrate the impact of those measures, and on the difficulties encountered in this regard.

The Berber population. For many years the Committee has requested the Government to provide information on the measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for the Berber population in the labour market. The Committee hopes that the new Act No. 2018-50 concerning the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, mentioned in its observation, will contribute to giving full effect to the provisions of the Convention on this point. It recalls that the collection and analysis of relevant statistics and data are indispensable to determine the nature, extent and causes of discrimination. The Committee again requests the Government to provide updated statistical information, disaggregated by sex, on the situation of the Berber population with regard to access to education, employment and the labour market. Please also indicate the measures taken to ensure discrimination-free access for men and women from this minority group to employment and to vocational training, as well as access for their children to education and provide information on the impact of measures taken in this regard.

General observation of 2018. With regard to the points raised above and more generally, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to its general observation on discrimination based on race, colour and national extraction, adopted in 2018. In this general observation, the Committee notes with concern that discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes based on the race, colour or national extraction of men and women workers continue to hinder their participation in education, vocational training programmes and access to a wider range of employment opportunities, resulting in persisting occupational segregation and lower remuneration received for work of equal value. The Committee thus considers that it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive and coordinated approach to tackling the obstacles and barriers faced by persons in employment and occupation because of their race, colour or national extraction, and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for all. Such an approach should include the adoption of interlocking measures aimed at addressing gaps in education, training and skills, providing unbiased vocational guidance, recognizing and validating the qualifications obtained abroad, and valuing and recognizing traditional knowledge and skills that may be relevant both to accessing and advancing in employment and to engaging in an occupation. The Committee also recalls that, in order to be effective, these measures must include concrete steps, such as laws, policies, programmes, mechanisms and participatory processes, remedies designed to address prejudices and stereotypes and to promote mutual understanding and tolerance among all sections of the population.

The Committee draws the Government’s attention to its general observation of 2018 and requests the Government to provide information responding to the issues raised in that observation.

Disability. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide updated information on the impact of positive action measures in favour of persons with disabilities provided by Act No. 2005-83 on the promotion and protection of persons with disabilities. The Committee notes that the Act of 2005 was amended by Act No. 2016-41 of 16 May 2016. By virtue of section 29, a quota of at least two per cent of the public service shall, as a priority, be attributed to persons with disabilities. Furthermore, any enterprise or public or private establishment employing between 50 and 90 workers, shall reserve at least one position for persons with disabilities (section 30). Where an enterprise is unable to comply with this quota, it may have recourse to teleworking, subcontracting labour, acquiring products from self-employed persons with disabilities, or from associations working in the field of disability. Noting that the Government has not provided information on the impact of positive action measures taken under Act No. 2005-83, as amended in 2016, the Committee again requests the Government: (i) to provide statistical information specifying the number of workers with disabilities who have benefited from these measures in the private or public sectors; and (ii) to indicate the positive measures taken or envisaged to enable persons with disabilities to benefit from real equality of opportunity, including by combating stereotypes related to disabilities, for example by promoting accessibility through reasonable alterations to installations or by establishing monitoring mechanisms in respect of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities who have participated in training courses and placement programmes.

Article 5. Workers with family responsibilities. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that although men can benefit under the same conditions as women from the part-time work scheme in the private sector (sections 94-2 to 94-12 of the Labour Code), this is not the case in the public sector, where this special scheme applies exclusively to women (Act No. 2006-58 of 28 July 2006 introducing a special part-time work scheme in the public sector). The Committee therefore requested the Government to take steps to harmonize the legislation to ensure that this option should also be available for men working in the public sector. The Committee requests the Government to indicate progress made in this regard and also to provide updated statistics on the number of men and women workers, from the public and private sectors, that have availed themselves of the possibility of part-time work.

Enforcement. The Committee has noted the Government’s indication that, over the past period, the labour inspectors observed no cases of discrimination between women and men in the enterprises visited, across all sectors, irrespective of whether the workers monitored were or were not unionized. According to the Government, neither have the labour inspectors received any complaints alleging discrimination based on sex (with regard to wages, occupational classification or promotion). Given that no society is free from discrimination, the Committee underlines that the absence, or very low number of cases or complaints does not automatically indicate that there is no discrimination in respect of employment or occupation on the basis of the criteria listed in the Convention, but can also be explained by the lack of an appropriate legal framework, lack of awareness of rights, lack of confidence in or absence of practical access to procedures, or fear of reprisals. The lack of complaints or cases could also indicate that the system of recording violations is insufficiently developed (2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 870). The Government has indicated that a Bill against all forms of discrimination is under discussion; the Committee therefore draws the Government’s attention to the need to take this opportunity to make sure that a clear and comprehensive legal framework is put in place so that the right to equality and non-discrimination is known to all and applied in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to: (i) raise the awareness of employers, workers and their organizations on the laws and policies regarding non-discrimination and equality and their impact with respect to employment and occupation; and (ii) build the capacities of the labour inspectorate to effectively promote and ensure equality in employment and occupation for all workers employed in all economic sectors, in both the formal and informal economy. Following the adoption of Act No. 2018-50 of 2018 concerning the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, the Committee requests the Government to provide information and the number and nature of acts of discrimination based on race, colour and national extraction examined by the labour inspectorate and the courts.