Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) Convention, 1925 (No. 19) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Convention. Equality of treatment between the dependants of national workers and those of foreign workers from countries which have ratified the Convention. The Committee notes from the information provided by the Government in its report that compensation for employment injury is still governed by Legislative Decree No. 136 of 16 September 1983 on occupational accidents. This Legislative Decree, although envisaging equality of treatment between nationals and foreign workers, also provides that the dependants of a foreign worker cannot receive the benefits provided for by the Legislative Decree if at the time of the accident they were residing outside Lebanon, unless they are nationals of a country granting the same treatment to Lebanese nationals as to their own nationals (section 10). In response to the Committee’s previous comments on this point, the Government indicates that the Tripartite Committee for the Amendment of the Labour Code, established within the Ministry of Labour in December 2000, has formulated a draft text providing that the dependants of a foreign worker from a country which has ratified this Convention would be entitled to receive benefit. The Government further indicates that this text is still in draft form. The Committee notes this information. Recalling that it has been drawing the Government’s attention to this point for many years, the Committee hopes that in the near future it will adopt the necessary amendments to bring Legislative Decree No. 136 into full conformity with this provision of the Convention which guarantees equality of treatment between the dependants of nationals and those of foreign workers from a country which has ratified the Convention without any requirement as to residence and irrespective of any reciprocity condition. Please provide a copy of the text adopted in this respect, where applicable.

The Committee further notes that the regulations necessary to make operational the occupational accidents and diseases branch provided for in the Social Security Code (Decree No. 13955 of 1963) have not yet been adopted. It requests the Government to refer to its previous comments on the amendments that would need to be made to this text to bring it into conformity with the Convention.