Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1988)

Article 3. Right of organizations to freely organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. The Committee notes with regret that Law No. 017/2020 of October 2020 establishing the General Statute governing public servants and revising Act No. 86/2013 still does not include provisions recognizing the right to strike of public servants. The Committee therefore requests once again that the Government take the necessary measures for the recognition of the right to strike of public servants, with the possible exclusion of those exercising authority in the name of the State. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

In relation to the Ministerial Order No. 4 of 13 July 2010, determining “indispensable services” and the conditions for the exercise of the right to strike in such services, the Committee recalls that it had previously requested the Government to amend section 11(2), according to which “in the public interest and in the interests of the health of the population, the authorities may prevent workers and employers from having recourse to strikes or lock-outs”. Noting with regret that the Government does not provide information in this regard, the Committee reiterates that the right to strike may only be restricted or prohibited in essential services in the strict sense of the term (namely, in services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population), in the public service only for public servants exercising authority in the name of the State, or in situations of acute national crisis. The Committee once again expects that the necessary measures to amend section 11(2) of the Ministerial Order will be taken without further delay, so as to bring it into line with the Convention. The Committee reiterates its request for the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.