Employment

Question 20 . As indicated in the report, the gap between women’s and men’s salaries continues to be significant. The report states that “the reason is that women, as a rule, work in lower-paying positions, even in such traditionally women’s sectors as health care and education”. In its 2001 concluding comments, the Committee recommended wage increases in female-dominated sectors in order to decrease the wage differentials between those and male-dominated sectors. Please provide information on the steps taken to implement the Committee’s recommendation.

Response : The salaries of employees in the field of education are increasing systematically. They rose by 23 per cent in 2004 in comparison with the previous year, and increased by 32 per cent in 2005. They are projected to climb further by 30 per cent in 2007.

A differentiated salary system is to be introduced in the health-care sector, which is expected to raise the average salary of doctors (taking into account a 30 per cent salary increase in 2007) by 68 per cent, and of average medical employees by 55 per cent.

As from 2007, the average salary for doctors in the higher category will amount to 46,000 tenge or $392 (at the current time, 24,000 tenge are equivalent to $192); for category 1 doctors — 46,000 tenge or $341 (22,500 tenge equal $164); for category 2 doctors — 45,000 tenge or $333 (21,500 tenge are equivalent to $159); for non-categorized doctors — 36,000 tenge or $266 (20,000 tenge equal $150).

Introducing the differentiated salary system will cost more that 12 billion tenge ($89 million).

There are plans to introduce a fixed income-tax rate of 10 per cent for all individuals in 2007. In order to maintain the income level of the low-paid category of workers, it is proposed to exclude from their taxable income the minimum wage instead of the monthly calculation index, which is in use at the present time.

There are plans to lower the social tax on average by 30 per cent in 2008, which should be an incentive for employers to increase employees’ salaries, including women’s salaries.

In addition, measures are being taken to increase women’s involvement in entrepreneurial activities, where salaries are higher than those of doctors and teachers.

The National Commission on Family Affairs and Gender Policy submitted a proposal to lower the fee rate on loans issued by the Small Business Development Fund from 12 per cent to 7-8 per cent. The proposal is under consideration by the Government.

Considerable attention is also being given to developing microcredit, where women have been particularly prominent. A draft law has been drawn up on introducing amendments to the current law on microcredit organizations. If it is adopted, the number of loan recipients will significantly increase (up to 90 per cent of the rural population) and the size of loans will be enlarged.

A draft law on equal rights and opportunities contains provisions obliging employers to carry out special programmes to close the salary gap between women and men by equalizing their vocational training and eliminating low-qualified and low-paid jobs.

Question 21 . The report states that “unemployment, as before, has a female face”. Please provide information on the status of the draft Labour Code, which envisages vocational training, retraining and job placement measures, and also indicate the steps taken by the Government to review the structuring of the social benefits system and of protective legislation with a view to reducing the barriers against the participation of women in the labour market, as recommended by the Committee in its 2001 concluding comments.

Response : The draft Labour Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is currently under discussion in Parliament (its adoption is planned for this year); it provides for direct and specific labour norms relating to women.

The use of women’s labour in arduous work (particularly arduous work), work with harmful (particularly harmful) and (or) hazardous (particularly hazardous) working conditions is prohibited.

Assigning pregnant women to night work, overtime work, or work on weekends or holidays or sending them on business trips or to work on a rotating basis is not permitted.

A part-time work schedule may be established on the basis of a written application by a pregnant woman.

An employer is obliged, in accordance with a medical report, to transfer a pregnant woman to other work where there are no adverse production factors and to maintain her salary calculated according to the average pay for the previous work.

In order to protect mothers and children, the draft Labour Code provides women with leave for pregnancy and childbirth lasting 70 calendar days prior to childbirth and 56 calendar days thereafter (70 in the case of difficult childbirth or the birth of two or more children). The leave is calculated in total and provided to women in full, regardless of the number of days actually taken before childbirth and with the payment during the said periods of a pregnancy and childbirth allowance by the employer, irrespective of length of service in the organization.

In addition to leave for pregnancy and childbirth, women may, upon application, also be granted additional leave without pay in order to care for a child up to the age of three. During the period of additional leave, her job (position) is maintained. Such leave may be used in full or in part at any time.

For women with children up to one and a half years of age, provision is made for special breaks during work for child nursing; employers are not permitted to terminate work contracts with pregnant women or women with children under the age of one and a half years.

These provisions of the draft law, if adopted, will significantly increase the legal and social guarantees of women in employment.

Health

Question 22 . The report states “we need to intensify efforts to provide universal access to family planning services, as well as to raise awareness — particularly among school children in higher grades and higher-level students — of the harm done by abortion and its consequences”. Please provide information on the steps taken to do this.

Response:The regulations for providing medical, prophylactic and gynaecological assistance to children and adolescents, which were approved by an order of the Ministry of Health (in 2005), were drawn up in order to ensure universal access to family planning services and raise awareness, particularly, among school children in higher grades and higher-level students, of the harm done by abortion and its consequences.

In accordance with paragraph 14 of the regulations, girls from 15 to 18 years of age are given early diagnostic and prophylactic care and treatment for irregularities in the development of the reproductive system in the adolescent section of student medical centres; and prognoses of the onset of the reproductive function in connection with the characteristics of sexual maturation, medical examinations of girls who use modern contraception methods, rehabilitation following an artificial abortion, a choice of contraceptive devices, and continuity of treatment from children’s polyclinics, women’s consultation centres and gynaecological clinics are provided, and awareness-raising is conducted.

Question 23. The report refers on page 6 to new laws “geared to protecting the health of women and children”, including the laws on the medical and social rehabilitation of individuals addicted to drugs, on preventing and curbing smoking, on preventing iodine-deficiency disorders and on human reproductive rights and guarantees of their implementation. Please provide information on the implementation of these laws and their impact on women and girls.

Response: In the context of implementation of the law on the rehabilitation of individuals addicted to drugs, a special Committee to Combat Drug Trafficking and Control the Circulation of Drugs has been set up within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It coordinates the activities of all ministries and departments dealing with issues of combating drug addiction and drug trafficking.

An Interdepartmental Commission for Coordination of Work to Prevent and Combat Drug Addiction and Drug Trafficking has been established and is now operating. Its membership includes representatives of State bodies and non-governmental associations.

In accordance with an order of the Minister of Health, the establishment of centres for the medical and social rehabilitation of drug addicts has been under way in all regions of the country since 2001. To date, 16 such centres have been opened, providing 605 beds. However, none have been opened in the Almaty, Akmola or Northern Kazakhstan regions, owing to lack of the necessary financial resources.

The purpose of the medical and social rehabilitation centres is to ensure the medical rehabilitation of individuals who enter the centres after receiving specific treatment for drug addiction or substance abuse.

The treatment methods carried out in hospital are provided by pharmacotherapy units or may take the form of psychotherapy, supportive therapy or social rehabilitation. The following forms of treatment are used: detoxification, physiotherapy treatment, systemic and symptomatic treatment, individual and group psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy for accompanying somatic complaints.

Under the law on preventing and curbing smoking, an age requirement has been introduced for entitlement to obtain tobacco products, and information about the harmful effects of tobacco is being disseminated throughout the country.

Kazakhstan signed the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2004, undertaking to implement a package of essential measures at the national level.

Bearing in mind the negative impact of micronutrient (iodine and iron) deficiencies on women’s reproductive health, the provision of preparations containing iron and iodine to all pregnant women free of charge has continued in 2006. In the first half of the year, 117,425 pregnant women received them.

The Asian Development Bank project for the improvement of nutrition for indigent women and children, initiated by the National Commission on Family Affairs and Gender Policy, is being implemented. It has provided for a fundamental solution to the problem of preventing iodine deficiency and iron-deficiency anaemia among women and children, through the production in Kazakhstan of iodized table salt and the enrichment of flour with iron preparations and vitamin and mineral complexes. For the purposes of implementing the project, laws on the prevention of iodine-deficiency disorders and on the quality and safety of food products have been elaborated and adopted, together with a decision of the Government approving the Regulations for the Mandatory Fortification (Enrichment) of White Flour Produced on the Territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

All salt produced in Kazakhstan is now iodized. Flour fortification is carried out at 4 of the 16 major mills, producing 90 per cent of the country’s flour. The question of fortifying flour at all these mills is being resolved.

Because of the low health index of women of childbearing age, free medical examinations have been offered in 2006 to women aged 15 to 49 and children under 18, with subsequent treatment for those found to have a health complaint.

In the first half of 2006, more than 40 per cent of women were examined; 22 per cent were found to have a disease, about 10 per cent were registered with clinics and 40 per cent were cured.

Two million children received preventive examinations; 29 per cent were found to have a disease, 50 per cent were cured and 12 per cent were registered with clinics.

More than 188,000 children under 5 were provided with outpatient medication for the most common diseases. The list of diseases was drawn up in line with WHO recommendations.

In the first half of 2006, 62,207 children and adolescents who were registered with clinics were provided with outpatient medication for chronic diseases.

Question 24. The report states on page 53 that “the main obstacles facing rural inhabitants are remoteness of rural offices from the central rayon hospital, the small assortment of contraceptives in the pharmacy network and the low level of awareness and lack of attentiveness of the people with regard to their health”. What steps have been taken by the Government to address these obstacles, in particular in respect of rural women?

Response: With a view to implementing the decision of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 2005 on measures to improve primary health-care for the population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a timetable has been agreed for bringing the existing network in the regions into line with the new primary health care standards. The standardization of the whole primary health-care network is to be carried out and the primary health-care service separated from hospitals and granted independent legal status by 1 January 2008.

In the second quarter of 2006, the level of supplies of medical equipment and articles for medical use in primary health-care facilities quadrupled in the case of paramedical stations and midwife stations and doubled in the case of family health outpatient clinics in comparison with the same period the previous year, to reach 54 per cent, 71 per cent and 85 per cent respectively.

Provision of telephone services to medical organizations has increased and currently stands at 92 per cent for rural and rural district hospitals, 93 per cent for family health outpatient clinics, 52 per cent for midwife stations and 32 per cent for paramedical stations.

During the public campaign “Promotion of a healthy lifestyle”, 118,718 events took place during the second quarter of 2006 on various aspects of healthy living (lectures, discussions, publication of information and education materials, visits to preschool institutions, schools, etc.), which reached 1,796,400 people. These included 83,900 events aimed at the rural population, which reached 1,078,200 rural people. Guidelines have been elaborated and approved on countering behavioural factors that contribute to the risk of disease and the major socially significant illnesses through primary health care.

By a directive of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan aimed at strengthening intersectoral cooperation on establishing a healthy lifestyle, an Action Plan for a Comprehensive Approach to Establishing a Healthy Lifestyle has been approved. Under the Action Plan, booklets, leaflets and posters have been produced on the prevention of iron-deficiency conditions, nutrition and breastfeeding, and material on nutritional principles has been published in the journals “Health” and “Current issues relating to healthy lifestyles, disease prevention and health promotion”.

Question 25.Please indicate any progress made towards acceptance of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention.

Response: Kazakhstan supports the entry into force of the amendment relating to the duration of the meetings of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Indeed, if the Committee considers 40 to 50 reports at its sessions each year, then the two weeks specified in article 20 of the Convention may be insufficient. This issue is currently undergoing interdepartmental review.