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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Niger (Ratification: 1979)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report received on 1 December 2007. Noting that it does not contain information on measures requested in the previous observation, the Committee must therefore repeat the latter, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2005 and the information provided in reply to its previous comments. The Committee has also noted the report of the high-level fact-finding mission conducted from 10 to 20 January 2006 by the ILO further to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards of the ILC (May–June 2005), on the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), and extended to issues of forced labour and slavery.

Need for a labour inspection audit for determining needs and their satisfaction with ILO support and international financial cooperation. The Government indicates that, contrary to the statement in its previous report, it has not been possible to mobilize the expected increase in the budgetary allocation for the labour inspectorate for budgetary year 2004 but that it will continue its endeavours in this direction. While indicating that the inspection staff is spread throughout the territory in accordance with availability of its officers and that each regional labour inspection service has a vehicle and a fuel allowance, the Government continues to refer to difficulties regarding the inadequacy, in both quantity and quality, of staff, given the size of the country and the predominance of the informal sector. In the 1997 annual report of the Directorate for Employment Promotion and Occupational Training, it was indicated, moreover, that labour inspections carry out the functions of the Directorate which focus chiefly on matters of employment and training, as attested by the monthly reports for 1999 of the regional inspections for Tarlit and Zbinden, which contain only sparse data regarding inspection activities. According to the conclusions of the ILO’s high‑level fact-finding mission report, labour inspection (which plays a key role in the campaign against child labour and forced labour) is desperately short of the necessary resources to carry out its various missions, in terms of both human resources and material resources. Consequently, the mission recommended carrying out an audit of the labour inspectorate to determine exactly the type and scope of its needs and considered that, once that had been carried out, the Government, with the support of the ILO and of other United Nations agencies and concerned donors, could endeavour to mobilize the necessary resources.

The Committee hopes that measures will be taken speedily by the Government, in consultation with employers’ and workers’ organizations, with a view to assembling the logistical and substantive conditions for launching, under ILO auspices, an audit of the labour inspectorate permitting the progressive application of the Convention in accordance with national priorities and requirements.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.