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Workmen's Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention, 1925 (No. 18) - Guinea - Bissau (RATIFICATION: 1977)

The Committee notes the Government’s overall report describing how the social security system gives effect to Conventions Nos 12, 17, 18 and 19 relating to occupational accidents and diseases. The Committee notes that the priorities of the Decent Work Programme 2012–15 of Guinea-Bissau include the strengthening and expansion of the social protection system, particularly for women and workers in the informal economy. The expected results include an increase in the number of persons receiving social benefits, since priority has been afforded to improving governance through assistance for the strategic planning of institutions responsible for social protection, improving the application and monitoring of social security standards as well as training social protection stakeholders. The Committee hopes that these measures for strengthening the social security system will, in particular, provide the means to overcome the difficulties faced by the Government regarding the collection of statistics and the implementation of legislation in practice, especially by enhancing the resources of the labour inspectorate for enforcing the current legislation. The Committee also hopes that the Government will be in a position in its next report to indicate progress achieved in the following areas which have been discussed by the Committee and the Government for a number of years:

• -implementation of the non-contributory social security scheme in accordance with Act No. 4/2007 through the adoption of the new regulations mentioned in the Government’s report to enable workers in the informal economy to benefit from protection in cases of occupational accident or disease;
• -adoption of the necessary measures, including budgetary measures, to ensure that public servants are covered by the social protection system;
• -ensuring effective equality of treatment of agricultural wage earners with other workers in respect of occupational accidents by reforming existing legislation;
• -ensuring protection of domestic workers against occupational accidents in accordance with the draft new Labour Code;
• -completion of the process for adopting a list of occupational diseases including at least the diseases recognized under the Workmen’s Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention, 1925 (No. 18);
• -ensuring that when compensation for an occupational accident is granted in the form of a lump sum, an authority guarantees the proper utilization of the funds in accordance with the Workmen’s Compensation (Accidents) Convention, 1925 (No. 17);
• -implementing the system of automatic reciprocity laid down by the Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) Convention, 1925 (No. 19), for foreign workers of all countries party to the Convention.

In this respect, recalling that the Constitution and national legislation continue to lay down reciprocity as a requirement for equality of treatment between foreign workers employed in Guinea-Bissau and Guinean nationals (article 28 of the Constitution, section 3(1) of Decree No. 4/80 and section 5(1) of Legislative Decree No. 5/86), the Committee points out that this Convention represents a multilateral social security agreement such as those promoted by section 3(1) of Act No. 4/2007 to ensure national reciprocal treatment. This being the case, the Government might consider replacing the phrase “subject to reciprocity” contained in section 3 of Decree No. 4/80 and section 5 of Legislative Decree No. 5/86 by the phrase “subject to the existence of a reciprocity agreement,” on the understanding that Convention No. 19 would be considered such an agreement.