Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1988)

The Committee notes the Government's first report and wishes to draw the Government's attention to the following points:

Article 2 of the Convention. 1. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its first report on Convention No. 98, to the effect that any first-level trade union must be endorsed by the central trade union organisation of Rwanda in order to receive official recognition. The Committee points out that under the terms of Article 2 of the Convention, workers shall have the right to establish organisations of their own choosing, including organisations that are outside any existing trade union structure, and it requests the Government to supply with its next report the by-laws of the central trade union organisation of Rwanda and any legal texts governing the scope of this central organisation as regards the defence of the occupational interests of workers.

2. With regard to the application of the Convention to agricultural workers, see under Convention No. 11, as follows:

With reference to its previous comments concerning section 186 of the Labour Code, which provides that agricultural workers shall be covered by special provisions contained in a special Act and therefore excluded from the scope of the Labour Code, the Committee notes the Government's statement that, despite section 186 of the Labour Code, those engaged in agriculture have always in practice enjoyed the same rights of association and combination as industrial workers. It notes with interest that a first-level trade union for workers in agriculture, animal rearing and forestry (the constituent by-laws of which are attached to the report) was established within the Rwandan Workers' Trade Union Confederation on 27 December 1989.

With regard to the draft Legislative Decree to revise the Labour Code, which repeals section 186, the Government states that the competent authorities have now opted for a progressive revision of the law which gives priority to urgent cases, instead of the total revision that was previously envisaged in the above draft text. The Committee points out that this draft text has been under discussion since 1978 and that there would not appear to be major difficulties in bringing the Labour Code into conformity with the Convention - and with current practice in Rwanda - and it trusts that the appropriate amendments will be made rapidly to the Labour Code in order to secure to all those engaged in agriculture the same rights of association and combination as to industrial workers. The Committee requests the Government to supply a copy once it has been adopted.

Article 3. 1. With reference to section 8 of the Labour Code, which prohibits occupational organisations of employees to elect trade union officers that are not of Rwandan nationality, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that this restriction is not in full conformity of the principle of the freedom of workers to elect their trade union representatives. The Committee requests the Government to make its legislation more flexible in order to permit workers' organisations to choose their representatives in full freedom and to allow foreign workers to hold trade union office after a reasonable period of residence in the country.

2. With reference to section 32 of the Constitution and section 26 of the Legislative Decree of 19 March 1974 to issue the general conditions of service of employees of the State, the Committee notes that the right to strike is not recognised for agents of the public authorities. In the opinion of the Committee, the right to strike is one of the essential means available to workers for the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests. Furthermore, the principle whereby the right to strike may be limited or prohibited in the public service or in essential services would become meaningless if the legislation defined the public service or essential services too broadly. This prohibition should therefore be confined to public servants acting in their capacity as agents of the public authority or to essential services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population (paragraph 214 of the 1983 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining).

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would amend its legislation in order to recognise the right to strike in defence of their occupational interests of agents of the public authorities who do not belong to the above categories.

Article 5. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether, in practice, workers' organisations exercise the right to join trade union organisations freely.