Definitive Report - Report No 78, 1965

Case No 327 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) - Complaint date: 19-FEB-63 - Closed

24. The present case was first examined by the Committee, as regards substance, at its 35th Session in November 1963, when it placed before the Governing Body an interim report (see paras. 158-181 of the 72nd Report of the Committee). This was approved by the Governing Body at its 157th Session (November 1963). It contained requests, addressed to the Government of the Congo (Leopoldville), for additional information on a number of points set out in paragraph 181 of the above-mentioned report, where the Governing Body is recommended, inter alia:

1. ......................................................................................................................................................
2. (a) to request the Government to confirm that Messrs. Mutombo, Mbwangi, Luyeye, Bamu, Mbenza, Ndala, Sakibanza, Toto-Zita and Bunga have been released, as seems to be indicated by the Government's telegram dated 5 April 1963;
3. (b) to request the Government to indicate whether the offices of the U.T.C in Stanleyville, Lukula. Matadi and Thysville have been reopened and whether the U.T.C has been free to resume its activities in these places;
4. (c) to request the Government to state whether the order prohibiting strikes has been rescinded in Coquilhatville;
5. (d) to request the Government to indicate whether the workers dismissed as a result of the strike have been reinstated.
6. ......................................................................................................................................................

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 25. When the case came before it again at its 37th Session in June 1964 the Committee took note of the replies to these various inquiries. The Government had stated in substance that all the persons mentioned in point (a) of the recommendation quoted above had been released not long after their arrest; that the offices of the U.T.C in Stanleyville had been reopened " several months ago " and the offices in Lukula, Matadi and Thysville some time afterwards; that the prohibition of strike action in Coquilhatville had been rescinded in June 1963 as a result of observations made by the Minister of Labour to the regional authorities; and that the workers of OTRACO who were dismissed as a result of the strike had been reinstated in their employment. The Committee therefore recommended the Governing Body to decide that these aspects of the case did not call for further examination.
2. 26. At its 37th Session the Committee further placed before the Governing Body its substantial conclusions on the allegation contained in a communication from the U.T.C dated 24 June 1963 relating to the prohibition of trade union meetings on the plantations of the Congolese Rubber Company.
3. 27. Lastly, also at its 37th Session, the Committee noted that the Government had not made any observation on the matters raised in two communications from the U.T.C dated 14 May and 12 June 1963, nor given the additional information anticipated by it regarding the events alleged in a communication from the General Federation of Congolese Workers dated 29 August 1963. The Committee therefore recommended the Governing Body to ask the Government to forward the expected information
4. 28. That recommendation was approved by the Governing Body at its 159th Session (June-July 1964) and conveyed to the Government by letter dated 18 June. The Government replied by letter of 10 October 1964.
5. 29. According to the U.T.C certain of its officers, other than those mentioned in paragraph 181 of the Committee's 72nd Report quoted in paragraph 24 above, had been arbitrarily arrested: they were Messrs. Yengha, Kasekwa, Musemakweli and Miss Mupenda, the last two being from Bukavu. The complainant also alleged that 72 of its members, whose names it did not indicate, had been arrested and its premises closed. Furthermore, the General Federation of Congolese Workers alleged that its secretaries had been arbitrarily arrested and its premises unjustifiably searched.
6. 30. As regards this last allegation the Government indicated as long ago as September 1963 that the members of the General Federation who had been arrested were released within 48 hours. In its observations of 10 October 1964 the Government states that it wrote to the General Federation of Congolese Workers on 16 July 1964 asking whether the General Federation maintained its complaint, and that the letter remained unanswered.
7. 31. On the allegations of the U.T.C regarding the arrest of some of its members the Government says in its observations of 10 October 1964 that all the persons concerned were released soon after their arrest; as in the case of the General Federation of Congolese Workers, the Government wrote to the U.T.C on 16 July 1964 asking whether it wished to maintain its complaint; the U.T.C replied on 10 August 1964, the Government says, that it regarded the incident as closed.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 32. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to note the Government's statement that the persons in question have been released and to decide that the case does not call for further examination.