Interim Report - Report No 103, 1968

Case No 536 (Gabon) - Complaint date: 19-SEP-67 - Closed

1. 287. The complaint of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions is contained in a communication dated 19 September 1967, supplemented by a communication dated 17 October 1967, both of which were addressed directly to the I.L.O. The text of these communications was transmitted to the Government, which made its observations on the matters referred to therein in a communication dated 28 November 1967.
2. 288. Gabon has ratified both the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 289. The complainants allege that on 13 September 1967 Mr. Walker Anguilet, General Secretary of the African Confederation of Gabonese Believing Workers, was arrested by the police, who also carried out a search of both the union headquarters and Mr. Anguilet's home and took away the union documents they found in both places.
2. 290. The complainants go on to refer to rumours according to which Mr. Anguilet has been accused of having attended a meeting at the home of a neighbour and of being the author of a defamatory letter against the Gabonese Government.
3. 291. The complainants state that Mr. Anguilet has never to their knowledge taken part in politics and that in consequence they do not give credence to the rumours mentioned above. While confessing ignorance of the reasons for Mr. Anguilet's arrest, the complainants declare that they continue to believe, " until the government concerned has furnished proof to the contrary ", that Mr. Anguilet has been arrested and detained solely as a result of his trade union activities.
4. 292. This latter remark by the complainants raises a question of principle to which the Committee feels attention should be drawn before the matter is gone into further. Generally speaking, it is incorrect to claim that the onus of proof rests with the government in respect of matters which are the subject of a complaint; since it is in fact the government which is the " defendant " it is normally up to the complainant to furnish evidence that its allegations are well founded. Nevertheless, in cases involving the arrest, detention or sentencing of a trade union official, the Committee, taking the view that private individuals have the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty, has considered that it was incumbent upon the government to show that the measures it had taken were not motivated by the trade union activities of the person to whom these measures applied. That is why, in all such cases, if the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to the arrest, detention or sentencing of trade unionists did not call for further examination, it has done so only after taking cognisance of observations from the government concerned giving full details of the measures taken against the persons in question and establishing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient detail that these measures had no bearing on the exercise of freedom of association but were occasioned by activities outside the trade union sphere which were either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature.
5. 293. In its observations, after stating that in so far as they are not harmful to law and order trade union activities may be carried on freely in Gabon, the Government declares that Mr. Anguilet's arrest was in no way due to trade union activities, the charges brought against him being " exclusively political " and relating to " activities harmful to national security ".
6. 294. However, since the Government gives no further details, the Committee feels bound, in view of the principle set forth in paragraph 292 above, to recommend the Governing Body, as it has done in many other cases, to request the Government to be good enough to supply information concerning the exact grounds for Mr. Anguilet's arrest and, in particular, the specific acts which in the Government's view justify the action taken against him. Having noted, moreover, that it would appear from the Government's observations that judicial proceedings have been brought against the individual in question, the Committee, in accordance with the practice it has always followed a feels bound to recommend the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to state whether Mr. Anguilet has been or is to be brought before a court and, if so, to supply the text of the judgment as and when given and the grounds adduced therein.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 295. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to request the Government to be good enough to supply information concerning the exact grounds for the arrest of Mr. Walker Anguilet, General Secretary of the African Confederation of Gabonese Believing Workers, and, in particular, the specific acts which in the Government's view justify the action taken against him;
   • (b) to request the Government to be good enough to state whether Mr. Anguilet has been or is to be brought before a court and, if so, to supply the text of the judgment as and when given and the grounds adduced therein;
   • (c) to request the Government to be good enough to furnish its observations on the allegations mentioned in paragraph 289 above concerning the measures carried out against the trade union organisation of which Mr. Anguilet is the General Secretary;
   • (d) to take note of the present interim report, on the understanding that the Committee will report further once it is in possession of the additional information specified in the three preceding subparagraphs.
     • Geneva, 15 February 1968. (Signed) Roberto AGO, Chairman.