Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Further to its observation, the Committee wishes to draw attention to the following points:

1. With reference to article 70/A of the Constitution which provides for the Republic of Hungary to promote "the realisation of lawfulness by regulations prohibiting unequal opportunity", the Committee requests the Government to supply information on the adoption of any regulations pursuant to this authority in future reports and to supply copies of the texts.

2. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that by virtue of section 5.1(e) of Decree No. 3/1982, the main purpose of the participation of the Young Communist League, the Union of Pioneers of Hungary, the Patriotic Front and the representatives of trade unions in vocational guidance was to carry out assessments in terms of career choice; and it requested further information on the role played by these organisations in this respect.

The Committee notes from the Government's reply that the Patriotic People's Front has ceased to exist and that the other organisations are not known to be effectively involved in this field. It also notes that regulation of vocational guidance is now within the competence of the Ministry of Education and Culture rather than the Ministry of Labour and that the contact of experts in the field of vocational guidance with employers and labour administrations is losing momentum.

The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the changes taking place in the provision of vocational guidance and to indicate the measures taken or contemplated, within the framework of the current social and economic changes, to ensure the observance of equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of all the grounds set out in Article 1 of the Convention in the activities of vocational guidance as required in Article 3 of the Convention.

3. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to section 4 of Decree No. 10/1983 on extension training for manual workers, to section 2 of Decree No. 11/1983 on extension training for skilled workers and to sections 2 and 3 of Decree No. 12/1983 providing for political instruction courses, particularly on Marxist-Leninism, to be included in training programmes.

The Committee notes from the Government's reply that the amended provision in the Labour Code which prohibits discrimination applies also to access to training. In light of the recent constitutional and legislative changes, it requests the Government to indicate the measures being taken to repeal the above provisions and to ensure that the obtaining of occupational qualifications are not subject to conditions which may constitute discrimination on the basis of political opinion, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.

4. In its previous comment the Committee noted that the statistical data provided was not broken down according to sex, ethnic group or job category. It notes that no statistics were supplied with the Government's latest report. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to supply more detailed statistics on the employment situation, particularly of women and ethnic minorities in its future reports.

5. The Committee refers to its previous comment on programmes in favour of gypsies and requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in terms of access to employment and occupations, of access to training and of conditions of employment.

6. The Committee reiterates its previous request for information on the policies and programmes now pursued with a view to promoting equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation, without discrimination on any of the grounds mentioned in Article 1 of the Convention and in particular on programmes to promote effective equality of opportunity between men and women.