Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

The Committee notes with interest that in reply to the comments it has been making for several years, the Government states in the brief report received in March 2001 that, with assistance from the UNDP and the ILO, it has succeeded in setting up an employment information system (SIME). Furthermore, the system, which is already operational, will provide the means for an employment promotion agency in the future. The Government also indicates that all the different views in civil society were taken into account in drafting the employment policy. The Government has also sent statistics showing that, in 1999, the activity rate stood at 46.71 per cent of the active population and the unemployment rate, at 20.90 per cent. According to a document appended to the report, with the emergence of the SIME, it has become possible to identify needs in terms of decentralization and regional balance and the degree of priority to be accorded to the advancement of women, the aims of sustainable human development and progress in good governance. The areas where progress is needed include: evaluation and analysis of underemployment, information on the informal sector, job supply and undeclared employment in the modern sector. The Committee also notes that in February 2000 the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund found that Mauritania was in a position to apply for a debt reduction plan under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative. The resources provided will go to the priority areas identified by the Government in its detailed poverty reduction strategy which is to be drafted after broad consultations with civil society. The Committee therefore requests that the Government indicate in its next report the action undertaken with assistance from the ILO in respect of employment policy and to state whether any particular difficulties have been encountered in achieving the employment objectives established, as part of a coordinated economic and social policy in consultation with representatives of those concerned, in accordance with Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention. Please also provide copies of reports, studies or surveys, together with detailed disaggregated statistics so as to facilitate an evaluation of the situation, level and tendencies, and all other information showing the extent to which the employment objectives defined by the programmes implemented in cooperation with the ILO and as part of the detailed poverty reduction strategy have been attained.