Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

The Committee notes the information communicated by the Government in its report in reply to previous comments.

1. In reply to the comments it has been making for a number of years concerning the absence in the national legislation of provisions prohibiting explicitly discrimination on all the grounds set out in Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention, the Committee notes the Government's statement that the provisions of the Constitution guaranteeing equality to all Moroccans before the law, the right of all to education and employment and to occupy public posts give adequate effect to the provisions of the Convention. The Government adds that section 8 of the draft Labour Code, revising the Dahir of 2 July 1947 governing employment confirms these constitutional guarantees and forbids any form of discrimination based on the grounds embodied in the Convention, among others. The draft is presently being studied by a parliamentary commission and the Government declares that there are no technical difficulties for its adoption. Noting that, in its comments on the draft Labour Code, the Office welcomed the general provisions ensuring non-discriminatory treatment contained in sections 7 and 8 of the draft, but suggested some additions to other sections concerning equal treatment, the Committee hopes that these observations will be taken into consideration and that the draft Code, which has been in preparation for many years, will be adopted in the near future. It requests the Government, in its next report, to provide information on progress towards the adoption of this draft.

2. With regard to equality of access for women to public employment, the Committee notes that section 12 of the Constitution, and section 1(1) of the General Public Service Act (Dahir of 24 February 1958, as amended by the Dahirs of 15 October 1991 and 2 March 1994) stipulate, in general, the principle of equality of access for all citizens to public services and employment. The Committee notes, however, that certain reservations are made in regard to application of the General Public Service Act to female staff, in that section 1(2) provides that "subject to the provisions it establishes or which are a result of special statutes, no distinction between the sexes shall be made in the application of this Act". In application of this provision, derogations to the principle of equality of access to public employment are contained in a number of special statutes, including the special statute for the staff of the Ministry of Postal, Telegraphic and Telephonic Services (Royal Decree of 9 March 1967, section 3, which stipulates that "postmen shall be recruited ... from among the male candidates").

3. In addition, the Committee notes from the report that the Government has submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (United Nations document CEDAW/C/MOR/1 of 3 November 1994) that women are excluded from active service in the police and the customs administrations; that the profession of fire-fighter remains the privilege of men; that female personnel in the Royal Armed Forces - officers and non-commissioned personnel - may exercise special functions only in the health and social services (Royal Decree of 10 February 1966 and Dahir of 17 May 1958); that, although the special statutes for the administrators of the Ministry of the Interior (Dahir of 1 March 1963) and for the General Inspectorate of Finances do not explicitly prohibit the access of women to these posts, in practice even though female candidates meet the conditions required for these two categories of posts, they are reserved for men; in practice, women are also excluded from the corps of forestry officials. The Committee requests the Government to supply with its next report detailed information on the measures taken or envisaged to bring national legislation and practice into conformity with the Convention on this point.

4. The Committee also notes that a Decree of 6 September 1957 relating to dangerous work prohibited for women forbids, inter alia, the employment of women: (1) on premises where the dangerous parts of hand-operated or engine-run machines are not protected with gear-guards, hand-guards and other protective devices (section 1); (2) on hand-operated wool-combing machines in the vegetal fibre industry (section 4); (3) in work listed in table A (section 13) and certain work indicated in table C (section 15) annexed to this Decree; and (4) prohibits women under 16 years of age from working at pedal-operated sewing machines (section 10). The Act of 16 May 1951 regulating employment of women, young people and children (in the Tangier area), contains in its Annex A (sections 1, 8 and 10) and tables A and C provisions similar to those in the Decree of 6 September 1957. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether these texts will be amended with a view to adapting them to the principle of equality between the men and women embodied in the Convention.

5. With regard to special measures taken to improve the status of women, the Committee notes in reading the above-mentioned CEDAW report that the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs has prepared a number of programmes for women designed to eradicate illiteracy, provide training, and improve awareness and information on the status of women. The Committee also notes that, in order to achieve wider participation of women in economic and social life, a National Commission for Women has been established within the same Ministry for the purpose of implementing a national strategy for the promotion of women based on the following three main objectives: (a) revising the legal status of women; (b) raising their level of training and education; and (c) reducing obstacles to the participation of women in politics. The Committee requests the Government to provide with its next report information on progress made in implementation of the Ministry of Employment programmes in favour of women, and particularly on the activities of the National Commission for Women and the results achieved concerning equality of access for men and women to training and employment. The Committee hopes, furthermore, to receive with future reports recent statistics on the training and employment of women as compared with men as soon as the results of the current census are known, as indicated in the Government's report.

6. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that the Decree of 17 October 1975, section 5, provides that the directorship of mixed schools is open to both men and women, in contrast to the Decree of 11 February 1972 on basic regulations for secondary schools which provides that a woman may occupy the position of secondary-school director only in a girls' school. The Committee requests the Government to confirm whether the latter Decree has been expressly amended by the Decree of 17 October 1975 and, if this is not the case, to indicate the measures taken to bring it into conformity with the Convention and national practice, since, according to the report, this Decree is no longer applied and women occupy directorships in mixed schools. Please provide a copy of the Decree of 17 October 1975 with the next report.

7. Article 3(c) of the Convention. In the absence of a reply to the request it has been making for some time, the Committee urgently requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to repeal the provisions of the Order of 20 June 1963 (section 2 of which refers only to women applicants) establishing an examination for the award of permanent appointments to probationary short-term typists which are incompatible with the national policy of non-discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.