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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Mauritania (RATIFICATION: 1961)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report. It notes the Government’s statement that the draft Labour Code, prepared with the assistance of the ILO, is being studied by the Interministerial Technical Committee. The Committee recalls that the Government has been referring to a draft Labour Code since 1995. It hopes that the new Code will be adopted in the near future and that the Government will take account of the following comments, which the Committee has been making for several years.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom. The Committee emphasizes once again that section 7 of the Labour Code, as amended by Act No. 93-038 of 20 July 1993, limits the right of access to trade union office to nationals of Mauritania. The Committee recalls that the legislation should be amended to enable organizations to choose their officers in full freedom and to allow foreign workers to take up trade union office, at least after a reasonable period of residence in the host country (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 118).

Articles 3 and 10. Right of organizations to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes freely in order to further and defend the interests of their members. The Committee notes once again that sections 39, 40, 45 and 48 of Book IV of the Labour Code which is currently in force permit the prohibition of strikes in the event of referral to compulsory arbitration. It hopes that the Labour Code will be amended to confine the prohibition of strikes solely to the essential services in the strict sense of the term, that is those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, or in the event of an acute national crisis.

The Committee again requests that the Government indicate in its next report the progress made towards enactment of the Labour Code.