Independent evaluation of the ILO’s Decent Work Country Programme Strategies and Activities in North-Africa: 2010-2013 For more information: International Labour Offi ce (ILO) Tel.: (+ 41 22) 799 6440 Evaluation Unit (EVAL) Fax: (+41 22) 799 6219 4, route des Morillons E-mail: [email protected] CH-1211 Geneva 22 http://www.ilo.org/evaluation Switzerland EVALUATION OFFICE INDEPENDENT EVALUATION OF THE ILO'S DECENT WORK COUNTRY PROGRAMME STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES IN NORTH AFRICA: 2010-13 VOLUME 2 OF 2: ANNEXES INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION Table of contents Annex I. Country case study: Algeria .................................................................................. 1 Annex II. Country Case Study: Egypt .................................................................................. 21 Annex III. Country case study: Eritrea ................................................................................ 101 Annex IV. Country Case Study: Libya ................................................................................ 121 Annex V. Country Case Study: Morocco ........................................................................... 135 Annex VI. Country Case study: South Sudan ...................................................................... 162 Annex VII. Country case study: Sudan ............................................................................... 184 Annex VIII. Country case study: Tunisia .............................................................................. 217 – i – Annex I. Country case study: Algeria I. Context1 After 132 years under French colonial rule, Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962 through a referendum conducted on 1 July of the same year. Civil war and displacement afflicted the country after contested elections in 1991. Since the year 2000, stability and security have consolidated in Algeria. The year 2010 saw an increase in street demonstrations over housing and employment deficits, including at least 9,000 riots, requiring some 100,000 security interventions.2 In 2011, the government introduced some political reforms in response to the Arab Spring, lifting the 19-year-old state of emergency restrictions and increasing women's quotas for elected assemblies. Political protest activity in the country continued with but small, sometimes violent demonstrations by disparate groups. The Republic of Algeria is a North African country that has an estimated population of 38.7 million (January 2014.)3 With a growth rate of 1.9% (2013 est.). Out of the total population, almost 99% are of Arab and Amazigh origin and consider themselves Sunni Muslims. Algeria was considered a “High Human Development” country in 2013.4 At 93rd in the HDI, Algeria ranks in the upper middle of all countries in health indicators such as maternal mortality, infant mortality, and life expectancy at birth (76th, 82nd, and 82nd, respectively). Algeria’s economy remains dominated by the state. Hydrocarbons have long been the backbone of the economy, accounting for roughly 60% of budget revenues, 30% of GDP, and over 95% of export earnings. Strong revenues from hydrocarbon exports have brought Algeria relative macroeconomic stability, with foreign currency reserves approaching $200 billion and a large budget stabilization fund available for tapping. In 2012, the Algerian economy grew by 2.5%, up slightly from 2.4% in 2011. Excluding hydrocarbons, growth was estimated at 5.8% in 2012 (up from 5.7% in 2011). The economy is projected to grow by 3.2% in 2013 and by 4.0% in 2014. Inflation rates have been increasing, 1 Sources: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/afpro/cairo/countries/algeria.htm; http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/Algeria%20%20Web%20Country%20Profile.pdf; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ag.html; http://www.indexmundi.com/algeria/ 2 Chérif Bennadji, « Algérie 2010 : l'année des mille et une émeutes » L’Année du Maghreb, VII (2011), at : http://anneemaghreb.revues.org/1254. 3 Office National des Statistiques, at: http://www.ons.dz/-Population-et-Demographie-.html. 4 UNDP, Human Development Index (2013), at: https://data.undp.org/dataset/Human-Development-Index-HDI- value/8ruz-shxu. – 1 – estimated at 8.9% in 2012 (up from 4.49% in 2011). Despite good financial performance, owing to modernisation reforms, the budget deficit widened to 3.3% of GDP in 2012 (as against 1.3% in 2011). This has been due to the expansionary fiscal policy initiated in 2011 to meet strident social demands for greater purchasing power, jobs and housing. Algeria has struggled to develop non-hydrocarbon industries because of heavy regulation and an emphasis on state-driven growth. The government’s efforts have done little to reduce high youth unemployment rates (21.5% according to 2010 est.) or to address housing shortages. The national strategic option is to revitalise the process intended to diversify the economy, starting with the non-oil sector, while deepening the reforms needed for the structural transformation of the economy.5 Some other pertinent areas of concern are that Algeria is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination and source country for cross-border and intercontinental migration. Every year, over 1,000 asylum-seekers approach the UNHCR office in Algiers seeking protection, adding to a growing group of urban refugees. UNHCR continues to provide protection and basic services based on a planning figure of 90,000 vulnerable refugees. Algeria is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a destination and source country for human trafficking of women, and to a lesser extent, men. This includes forced labour and sex trafficking and involves criminal networks that sometimes extend to sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Algeria ranks as a “Tier 3” country and does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and the government has not developed or employed systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims and referring them for protective services.6 No public awareness campaigns are conducted and no plan of action has been developed to complement Algeria’s antitrafficking law (2013). Key Facts and Figures Algeria Population 38,087,812 (July 2013 est.) Real GDP growth 2.5% (2012 est.) GDP per head ($US at PPP) $7,600 (2012 est.) Unemployment rate 10.2% (2012 est.) Population below National Poverty Line 22.6% (1995 est.) Total net enrolment primary education 95.3% (2009 est.) Total adult literacy rate 72.6% (2006 est.) 5 African Development Bank Group, “Algeria Economic Outlook,“ In African Economic Outlook (2014), at: http://www.afdb.org/en/countries/north-africa/algeria/algeria-economic-outlook/. 6 U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2013 (Country Narratives a–C), pp. 69–70, at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210738.pdf. – 2 – II. Social Dialogue and Tripartism Algeria’s Economic and Social Growth Pact (Pacte National Économique et Social de Croissance—PNESC) has been the subject of negotiation among the government, the Union générale des travailleurs Algériens (UGTA) and the National Employment Agency (Agence Nationale de l’Emploi—ANEM). A tripartite committee monitors the commitments under the PNESC. The Pact's main goals are to accelerate economic reforms, develop social systems such as health care, and promote access to work as well as to consolidate the partnership and upgrading of enterprises. The Ministry of Industrial Development chairs the committee, assisted by two vice-presidents from UGTA and ANEM. On 23 February 2013, the Algerian government, nine employer associations and UGTA signed the Pact as a 5-year plan to implement the concept of decent work and FPRW. This Pact provides a basis for further ILO programming, including the drafting of a DWCP. However, no ILO-CO or ILO-Geneva evaluation is available to assess the implementation of the previous Pact of 2006 upon its expiry in 2011, nor the new Pact. The current draft of Algeria’s would-be DWCP 2011–14 includes commitments to establish an Social Security Graduate School (École Supérieur de la Sécurité Sociale-ÉSSS) and diffuse the Algerian experience through the regional functions of the Institut National du Travail (INT) and the creation of an active Decent Work Observatory.7 The most-recent tripartite conference (March 2014) decided to establish a mechanism for implementation and evaluation through a national monitoring committee involving all stakeholders. 8 Among its priorities are (1) to accelerate economic growth through the creation of decent employment and support for industry (2) improvement of the health system and social protection, and (3) to capitalize on, and diffuse the principles of good governance and ILS. Further subjects of tripartite dialogue include the ongoing debate over repeal of Article 87a of the Labour Code, which has blocked wage increases for twenty years in Algeria. The wage ceiling, which IMF imposed in April 1994, at the height of the economic crisis when the country was insolvent, has capped the minimum wage, effectively freezing compensation for 900,000 civil servants since January 2012 at DA18,000 (US$225). With pressure from UGTA and workers in general, the clause was postponed at the end of the evaluation period until 2015. Heralded as historic, the 23 February 2014 tripartite meeting agreeing on the postponement has not led to the final abolition of Article 87a; however, following a Central Bank of Algeria calculation that the state budget budget could not cover the cost of wage rises. This is