Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Curaçao

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their administration and activities. The Committee recalls that it had previously highlighted the need to amend section 374(a), (b) and (c) of the Penal Code and section 82 of Ordinance No. 159 of 1964 containing the Conditions of Service of Public Servants, which prohibited public employees, including teachers, from striking under penalty of imprisonment. The Committee previously noted with interest the Government’s statement that the restriction formerly made for the then Netherlands Antilles, which had rendered Article 6(4) of the European Social Charter (right to strike) not applicable to civil servants, had been annulled with the accord of the Government at Kingdom level, and noted the Government’s indications that an inter-ministerial committee investigated the need to change relevant provisions in the Penal Code, the Civil Code and the Ordinance on Civil Servants, and that in practice the restriction was void because strikes were in most cases declared justified by the Court of Justice of Curaçao. The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. The Committee takes due note of the Kingdom Act of 3 December 2014, pursuant to which the reservations formerly made for the then Netherlands Antilles, which rendered Articles 6(4) of the European Social Charter and 8(1)(d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (right to strike) not applicable to civil servants, have been withdrawn with the accord of the Government at Kingdom level, and that this is also valid for Curaçao. Furthermore, the Committee understands that a new Penal Code entered into force in Curaçao on 15 November 2011, replacing the old Penal Code of the Netherlands Antilles. The Committee requests the Government to clarify whether section 374(a), (b) and (c) of the Penal Code of the Netherlands Antilles has been carried over into the Curaçao Penal Code, and, if so, to provide information on the outcome of the deliberations held by the inter-ministerial committee referred to by the Government and on any legislative measures taken or envisaged with a view to giving effect to the decision to withdraw the reservation on the civil servants’ right to strike, thus bringing the legislation of Curaçao into conformity with the Convention.