HUMAN RIGHTS ticular jobs, recruitment and hiring; • Equal access to vocational training; • Equal terms and conditions of employment, e.g. access to professional training, opportunities for advancement, other benefits, remuneration in all its forms, etc. Action required by governments • Adoption of laws and creation of educational programmes on equal opportunity; • Adoption of national policy on equal opportunity; • Full cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations; • Possible establishment of a national agency on equal opportunity; • Repeal of inconsistent laws and practices. Convention No. 111 identifies seven prohibited grounds of discrimination (see under ‘Definition of discrimination’). It includes an option for member states to identify additional grounds of discrimination. Some countries have included age, disability and sexual orientation as additional grounds for discrimination. In examining the application of this Convention, gender discrimination in employment and occupation is the issue which has been most frequently raised. The ILO supervisory bodies have examined this problem in practically all of the states which have ratified this Convention, including: Afghanistan, Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Guatemala, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Spain, Sudan, to name a few. To give an indication of the range and complexity of this issue: in 2001, before the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (Committee of Experts) – the main body responsible for examining member states’ compliance with Conventions – expressed deep concern at the continuing grave abuses of human rights of women in Afghanistan, and in particular at the severe restrictions on their education and employment; while in Finland, the government acknowledges that ‘gender inequalities persist, primarily with regard to employment opportunities, the nature of employment relationships, and pay’.13 The situation of minority and indigenous women has also been examined in the context of Convention No. 111. For example, the Committee of Experts, when looking into the action to eliminate gender discrimination in Australia, expressed its concern about the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and of migrant women, whose situation was further compounded by an apparent rise in racism and xenophobia.14 The Committee has also raised the problem of high unemployment among Maori women in New Zealand. 12 The over-representation of women in lower-level occupations and their under-representation in higherlevel positions, has also been raised on a number of occasions, as have laws and regulations which hinder equal opportunities. While there has been tangible progress in some countries, the problem of inequality between men and women persists in most states, and there is much room for improvement. The Committee has also raised the issue of discrimination on the basis of political opinion in some countries including in Angola, Cuba and the Czech Republic. For religious minorities, the issue of discrimination has been raised, for example, in the context of the Baha’is in Iran and the Ahmedis, Quadiani and Lahori group members in Pakistan. It is important to remember that Convention No. 111 also covers access to, and opportunities for, employment and occupation. Thus, educational institutes, selfemployment initiatives, and training programmes all come under the scope of this Convention, as does the recruitment process from the initial advertisement in a newspaper, through to the interview and job offer, to the terms and conditions of employment. As clarified by the Committee of Experts: ‘The application of the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment for all persons in respect of access to employment of their own choice does not confer upon every person a right to obtain a particular post regardless of his or her qualifications or other conditions, but means that every person has the right to have his or her application for appointment to the post of his or her choice considered equitably, without discrimination based on any of the grounds referred to in the Convention.’15 It is in studying the links between discrimination – on the grounds of colour, national extraction, ‘race’ and social origin – and high unemployment and low education rates, that the ILO has raised the issue of minorities and indigenous peoples.16 Returning to Australia, for example, the Committee of Experts has expressed its concern over the continued high unemployment rate for the indigenous peoples in Australia (23 per cent compared with 9 per cent for the total population). It also commented on the removal of the post of the Social Justice Commissioner of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and asked the government ‘to evaluate the impact this decision might have on the employment and occupational opportunities of indigenous Australians’.17 The Committee of Experts has also commented on the discrimination faced by scheduled castes and tribes in THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION: A HANDBOOK FOR MINORITIES AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES