Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Burkina Faso (Ratification: 1974)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report. It notes that it does not fully reply to the previous comment. It must therefore repeat its previous observation, which read as follows.

The Committee notes the Government’s replies to the points raised in its previous comments, which indicate that in agricultural enterprises the labour inspectorate operates with the same human and material resources and according to the same methods as in other branches of activity. In theory, this is not contrary to the prescriptions laid down in the Convention as to the general principles which should be the foundation of any labour inspection system. However, to meet the standard of effectiveness required by the ILO instruments concerning labour inspection, the Committee deems it essential for labour inspection services to be duly adapted to the specific features of each of the economic sectors covered. In this case, by taking into account the particularities of agricultural workers and agricultural enterprises, the Convention aims to ensure the necessary degree of compliance with the legislation on the working conditions of agricultural workers and their protection while engaged in their work.

An appreciation of the effectiveness of the labour inspection system in agriculture is therefore necessarily based on the knowledge of the needs in this area and on periodical updating of the relevant information. The obligation for inspection units to provide periodical reports on their activities in agricultural enterprises (Article 25) is specifically intended to enable the central inspection authority to follow, supervise and, if necessary, adjust their activities, as well as the inclusion of information on the items listed in Article 27 which are specific to the agricultural sector in the general annual report on inspection activities required by Article 26. No such report has been provided to the ILO for around ten years and the number of agricultural enterprises liable to inspection has never been communicated. In its report of 2000 on the application of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), concerning labour inspection in industry and commerce, the Government announced the publication and communication of annual reports for the period 1995-99 without following up on it. Consequently, the Committee still lacks the data needed to make even a rough assessment of how far this Convention is applied in practice and is therefore unable to fulfil the supervisory duty vested in it. It wishes to point out to the Government that, as it stated in its General Survey of 1985 on labour inspection, the publication of an annual report is not an end in itself but gives the national authorities significant data on the application of the national labour legislation and any gaps in the legislation which may be instructive for the authorities in the future, on the one hand, and, on the other hand enables employers and workers and their organizations to react, through its publication, with a view to improving the effectiveness of inspection services (paragraph 273). The Committee recalls that, when a member State is unable to fulfil the requirements of a Convention it has ratified due to its economic situation, it may request the technical assistance of the ILO and international financial aid.

Noting that, according to the Government, the available general indicators made it possible, when formulating projects and programmes to combat child labour, to establish that this phenomenon is found mainly in the agricultural sector, including animal husbandry, and that labour inspectors are assigned an important role in this context, the Committee is of the view that the Government would be well advised to take advantage of the implementation of these projects to initiate measures to reactivate the labour inspection services in agricultural enterprises. As a preliminary and objective assessment of the situation in this sector is highly desirable for this purpose, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would ensure that the labour inspection services have access to data on the number and geographical distribution of agricultural enterprises and workers employed therein, and to provide the ILO with any relevant information, including information on the composition and distribution of inspection staff in geographical terms and according to their fields of competence.

The Committee hopes that the Government will communicate detailed information on how it has given effect to each of the provisions of the Convention. The Government is also asked to keep the ILO informed of any difficulties encountered and of any steps taken to overcome them.