Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Pre-sessional working group

List of issues in connection with the consideration of the combined initial and second periodic reports of Djibouti (E/C.12/DJI/1-2), adopted by the pre-sessional working group at its fifty-first session (21–24 May 2013)

I.General information

1.Please provide information on the measures taken to make the courts more aware of the economic, social and cultural rights contained in the Covenant and their justiciability. Also provide information on case law in which the Covenant has been invoked to resolve disputes.

II.Issues related to the general provisions of the Covenant (arts. 1–5)

Article 2, paragraph 1Obligation to take steps to the maximum of available resources

2.Please describe the results of efforts to mobilize resources domestically, including the measures taken to combat corruption, and to reallocate public resources to the social sector.

Article 2, paragraph 2Non-discrimination

3.Please provide details on the impact of the measures adopted to combat discrimination against persons with disabilities on their enjoyment of economic and social rights. Also indicate whether the tax incentives adopted by the State party have served to promote the employment of persons with disabilities.

Article 3Equal rights of men and women

4.Please provide information on the measures adopted by the State party to ensure that men and women enjoy economic, social and cultural rights on an equal footing, including a comprehensive review of legislation with a view to amending provisions that are discriminatory or that have discriminatory effects on men or women.

5.Provide information on the impact of the National Strategy for the Integration of Women in Development on the enjoyment by women, without discrimination, of economic, social and cultural rights. Also indicate to what extent the efforts of the State party to combat direct and indirect gender-based discrimination have led to changes in old practices that are related to the exercise of customary and religious law and that are discriminatory against women and children, and also to a better understanding of their rights and the remedies available to them.

6.Indicate what other measures are being envisaged by the State party to ensure that women can enjoy both the right to work and access to high-ranking positions on an equal footing.

III.Issues relating to the specific provisions of the Covenant (arts. 6–15)

Article 6Right to work

7.Please furnish updated information on the unemployment and underemployment rates, including among women and young people. Also provide information on the impact of the measures taken, in particular by the National Agency for Employment and Vocational Training, to find work for women and young people and to increase the employability of persons who are unemployed. Supply information on the measures taken so that young people receive training relevant to the needs of the market, as unemployment also affects graduates.

8.Provide information on the impact of the strategy to provide a structure for and bring about gradual change in the informal sector on the regularization of the status of workers, in particular women, in the sector.

Article 7Right to just and favourable conditions of work

9.Does the State party intend to establish a minimum wage that would provide a decent living for wage earners and their families?

10.Please indicate whether the State party intends to regulate the jobs listed in paragraph 64 of its report so as to protect the right of workers to just and favourable conditions of work.

11.Indicate whether the State party has a labour inspection system to monitor its compliance with the obligations arising from article 7 of the Covenant. Provide information on the remedies available should the right to just and favourable conditions of work be violated. Also specify whether such remedies are accessible to migrant workers in an irregular situation, such as those mentioned in paragraph 65 of the State party’s report.

Article 8Trade union rights

12.Please provide information on the measures taken to protect employees against reprisals for trade union activities.

Article 9Right to social security

13.Please provide more information on the community microinsurance scheme mentioned in paragraph 208 of the core document, in particular regarding the services proposed and the intended or actual number of persons covered by the microinsurance scheme. Also indicate how this scheme is linked to the State party’s social security system as a whole.

Article 10Protection of the family, mothers and children

14.Please provide information, including statistics, on the impact of the measures taken to combat child labour and to protect children from work in dangerous conditions and from exposure to different forms of exploitation.

15.Provide information on the enjoyment of economic and social rights by the elderly, including the percentage of elderly persons receiving old-age pensions, access to social services allowing them to remain in their normal living environment for as long as possible and access to geriatric care. Describe the measures taken to protect the elderly from abandonment, negligence and ill-treatment.

16.Provide information on measures taken to effectively apply the provisions of article 333 of the Criminal Code that punish violence entailing genital mutilation and to increase the involvement of traditional chiefs and religious leaders in efforts to end genital mutilation.

Article 11Right to an adequate standard of living

17.Please describe the effect of poverty-reduction programmes and strategies. Provide information on the impact of steps to counter the economic and social exclusion of persons and families belonging to disadvantaged, marginalized groups, with particular reference to the measures taken by the State Secretariat of National Solidarity.

18.Indicate whether the measures outlined in paragraph 129 of the State party’s report will permit the realization of the right to adequate food for the entire population. Describe the progress made in this respect.

19.Describe the current situation with regard to access to safe drinking water in urban and rural areas after the implementation of the three-year plan up to 2011 and the strategy to provide reliable access to water in the rural areas. Also provide information on the progress made with desalination and the steps to cut water wastage.

20.Provide information on the measures taken or envisaged by the State party to improve the living conditions of persons who do not have permanent housing.

Article 12 Right to physical and mental health

21.Please indicate how many citizens are covered by the health insurance to which reference is made in paragraph 159 of the State party’s report. In addition, explain why the cost of treatment at public health facilities is greater than in the private sector. Describe the measures taken by the State party to ensure that everyone, including socially disadvantaged groups and the rural population, can afford health care and health insurance.

22.What mechanism has been put in place to ensure the permanent funding of health care, which is one of the strategic objectives of the 2002–2011 10-year health plan? In particular, what measures have been adopted to avoid budget cuts for essential health services such as screening and assistance for tuberculosis patients and for persons living with HIV/AIDS.

23.Provide information on the measures taken by the State party to combat drug use and alcohol abuse, and on services to treat and care for drug users.

Articles 13 and 14Right to education

24.Please provide up-to-date information on the outcome of the 10-year education strategy adopted in 2000, especially in terms of the level of enrolment in primary education, access to education for all, a reduction in gender disparity and an improvement in the quality of education.

25.Provide information on the State party’s strategy to improve access to primary education for nomadic populations and children who do not attend school because they live too far away.

26.Provide information on the impact of the measures mentioned in paragraph 176 of the State party’s report, namely the introduction of a literacy programme and the opening of literacy centres, and on the literacy level of adult men and women.

Article 15Cultural rights

27.Please describe the measures taken to enable nomads to preserve their way of life, and the impact of the State party’s policy of settling the nomadic populations from the interior of the country on that way of life.

28.Specify the status of the languages, other than the official ones, spoken in the State party. Inform the Committee of the progress made in introducing the teaching of Somali and Afar into the school curriculum.