Interim Report - Report No 95, 1967

Case No 349 (Panama) - Complaint date: 26-JUN-63 - Closed

1. 198. The Committee first examined this case at its 38th Session (November 1964, see paragraphs 101 to 108 of the 79th Report) and most recently in November 1966, when it submitted to the Governing Body a further interim report, contained in paragraphs 169 to 176 of the 93rd Report. The recommendations contained in the last of those paragraphs are worded as follows:
   • In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
     • (a) to express regret at the fact that, despite the time that has elapsed since approval of the 79th Report of the Committee by the Governing Body (March 1965) and of the number of reminders that have been sent, the Government has not supplied the detailed observations which were requested in paragraph 108 of the said report regarding allegations concerning interference, in 1963, with the Confederation of Labour of the Republic of Panama;
     • (b) to request the Government once more to furnish the said observations, as a matter of urgency;
     • (c) to note that the Committee has decided to request the complaining organisation to furnish further information on the present situation with regard to the matters raised in the complaint;
     • (d) to note that the Committee proposes in any event to submit its conclusions on this case at its next session.
   • 199. These recommendations were approved by the Governing Body at its 167th Session (November 1966) subsequently brought to the attention of the Government by a communication dated 23 November 1966 followed by a reminder dated 6 January 1967. In another communication dated 23 November 1966 the complainant organisation was requested to supply the additional information referred to in subparagraph (c) of paragraph 176 of the 93rd Report.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 200. The specific observations which the Government was repeatedly requested to furnish, beginning in November 1964 and on the latest occasion in November 1966, as a matter of urgency, refer to the allegations that the executive power had interfered with the Confederation of Labour of the Republic of Panama through a decision, No. 46 of 5 June 1963, removing from office certain members of the executive board of that Confederation. On the basis of the information supplied by the complainants (consisting of cuttings from three newspapers) the Committee considered that the provisions of Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), ratified by Panama, had been violated, since the Convention provides that workers' organisations have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom and organise their administration and that the public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof. However, the Committee felt that the elements in its possession were not sufficient to enable it to assess the situation, inter alia because the observations made by the Government in its communication of 20 August 1964 did not contain the specific information that would have been necessary to guide the Committee in considering the case.
2. 201. By a communication dated 12 January 1967 the Government reported that the Minister responsible for such matters " could not supply the observations requested at the present date but would do everything in his power to send them to the I.L.O as soon as possible ". Up to the present time the Office has not received the observations in question.
3. 202. On the other hand, no reply whatsoever has been received to the communication sent to the complainants on 23 November 1966, although there are no grounds for believing that the communication was not delivered.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 203. At its present meeting, therefore, the Committee has no additional information that would enable it to ascertain with any certainty the circumstances and legal grounds invoked for the action affecting the Confederation of Labour of the Republic of Panama and which, as the Committee observed at its meeting of November 1964, seems to constitute an infringement of the provisions of Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87). Nor has the Committee been able to obtain from the complainants any information on the present situation which would have shown whether the trade union rights that appeared to have been violated had been fully re-established or whether the measure complained of still continued in effect.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 204. In these circumstances the Committee, considering that the specific observations which the Government has promised to supply shortly would usefully supplement the information available concerning this case, recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the attention of the Government to the importance it has always attached to the provision contained in Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), according to which workers' organisations shall have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom and organise their administration and that the public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof; and
   • (b) to reiterate its request to the Government to be good enough to furnish, as a matter of extreme urgency, its detailed observations regarding the alleged interference with the Confederation of Labour of the Republic of Panama.