Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee refers the Government to its observation and would be grateful if the Government would provide further information on the following matters.

1. Articles 14 and 15 of the Convention. Material means for the labour inspectorate. The Committee notes with interest that the Government has undertaken to support the labour inspection units of the governorates and to organize a competition for the recruitment of economics and law graduates. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the budgetary measures taken or envisaged to fulfil this undertaking. Further to its previous comments, the Committee requests the Government to provide details on the impact of the circular of 26 April 2001 instructing directors of social affairs and labour to provide labour inspectors in agriculture with the facilities they need to improve labour inspection in agriculture.

2. Article 18. Labour inspectors’ authority to issue orders in the event of danger to health or safety. The Committee notes with interest that under section 127 of Act No. 56 of 2004, labour inspectors may issue orders to employers for the purpose of removing risks to workers’ health and safety. The Committee observes that orders to halt work are nonetheless subject to authorization from the governor, and requests the Government to indicate how it ensures that the formalities for obtaining such authorization are not an obstacle to securing the immediate protection of agricultural workers in the event of imminent danger.

3. Article 19. Notification of occupational accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee takes note of the succinct statistics on occupational accidents broken down by region. It draws the Government’s attention to the ILO practical guide on the recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases (1996), which provides guidance on how to compile and use relevant statistics in order to identify priority requirements for protection against occupational risks and determine useful means of prevention. The Committee requests the Government to adopt measures to improve the procedure for notifying occupational accidents, in particular, by designing suitable forms for notification. Please keep the ILO informed of progress in this matter. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would ensure that labour inspectors are given responsibility for alerting employers and workers in agriculture to the need to be attentive to occupationally-incurred ailments and to notify them to the inspection services.

4. Article 6, paragraph 2.  Supervision of the living conditions of agricultural workers and their families. The Committee notes that, under Act No. 56 of 2004, labour inspectors retain authority for supervising health standards in the accommodation of agricultural workers, and requests the Government to provide information on the extent of such supervision in practice and its results. It would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether it envisages extending such supervision to the health and safety conditions of members of agricultural workers’ families who live with them at the agricultural undertakings.

5. Articles 26 and 27. Annual inspection report. The Committee notes that the annual report on the work of the inspection services in agriculture indicates neither the number of undertakings subject to inspection nor the number of workers employed in them. The Committee points out that this information is essential to assessing the coverage of the labour inspection system. It asks the Government to draw the attention of the central inspection authority to the guidance provided in Part IV of Recommendation No. 81 on how the information required by Article 27 can be set out in the annual report in such a way as to be useful to an evaluation of the work of the labour inspectorate and the effect given to the legislation subject to its supervision, and to determining the measures needed for improvement. The Committee hopes that there will be progress in this area and that the next annual report on inspection in agriculture will give a clearer idea of the extent to which the labour inspection system is able to operate in the agricultural sector, and that the report will be published in such a way that the social partners have the opportunity to become acquainted with it and propose relevant suggestions, in accordance with Article 26.