Observation on submission to competent authorities (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Bahrain

Failure to submit. The Committee recalls that, for a number of years, it has been requesting the Government to submit the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference to the National Assembly in compliance with its obligation of submission pursuant to article 19 of the ILO Constitution. In this respect, it notes the information provided by the Government in its communication of 11 July 2023, in which it reiterates that: (i) it has complied with its constitutional obligations by submitting the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference to its Council of Ministers, as the competent authority; and (ii) indicated that a new mechanism for submission of the instruments adopted by the Conference would require the revision of the Constitution of Bahrain and of a number of laws which regulate this aspect and which specify the mandate and powers of the Council of Ministers. In this regard, the Committee notes that, in order to fully comply with the constitutional obligation of submission, Bahrain may wish to transmit the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference to the Council of Representatives (the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly for information), once the Council of Ministers has reviewed them.

Against this backdrop, the Committee recalls once more that when a State decides to become a Member of the Organization it accepts to fulfil the obligations established in the Constitution, such as the obligation to submit to the competent authorities the instruments adopted at the Conference. It emphasizes, however, that the obligation of ILO Member States to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference to the competent authorities does not imply any obligation to propose the ratification or application of the instruments in question, or to take any other specific action. Pursuant to article 19 of the ILO Constitution, Member States have complete freedom as to the nature of the proposals to be made, if any, when submitting the instruments. In this respect, the Committee once again draws the attention of the Government to the Memorandum concerning the obligation to submit Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authorities, adopted by the Governing Body in 2005, particularly Part I on the aims and objectives of submission.

The Committee understands that, in Bahrain, the Council of Ministers is the authority competent to ratify a Convention or Protocol, as well as to decide on any other action which it may deem appropriate in respect of the instruments adopted by the Conference (2005 Memorandum, Part I(b)). The Committee nevertheless recalls once again that, for the purposes of article 19 of the ILO Constitution, discussion in a deliberative assembly – or at a minimum transmission to a deliberative assembly of information concerning the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference – is an essential component of the constitutional obligation to submit, as indicated in the 2005 Memorandum (2005 Memorandum, Part I(c) and Part II(c)). This obligation is applicable even in cases where legislative power is vested in the executive by virtue of the Constitution of the Member State. The obligation to submit is twofold: (1) to encourage ratification or application of instruments adopted by the Conference through submission to the competent authority empowered to consider ratification; and (2) to bring the instruments adopted by the Conference to the knowledge of the public through their submission to a parliamentary or deliberative body. Given the importance of the latter objective, the Committee has noted that, even in the absence of a parliamentary body, informing a consultative body makes it possible to carry out a full examination of the instruments, ensuring that they are widely disseminated among the public, which is one of the purposes of the obligation of submission (2005 Memorandum, Part II(d)).

The Committee therefore once again expresses the hope that the Government will take urgent measures to further examine this matter in order to ensure full compliance with this twofold obligation to submit, established in article 19 of the ILO Constitution, and that it will soon be in a position to report not only on the submission to the Council of Ministers of the 25 instruments adopted by the Conference at 14 sessions held between 2000 and 2019 (88th Session, 89th Session, 90th Session, 91st Session, 92nd Session, 94th Session, 95th Session, 96th Session, 99th Session, 100th Session, 101st Session, 103rd Session, 104th Session and 108th Session), but also on the submission of these instruments to a deliberative assembly such as the Council of Representatives.