Interim Report - Report No 165, June 1977

Case No 839 (Jordan) - Complaint date: 01-MAR-76 - Closed

1. 110. The complaint of the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers is contained in a communication dated 1 March 1976. The world Federation of Trade Unions declared, in a telegram dated 15 March 1976, that it was supporting this complaint.
2. 111. These complaints were transmitted to the Government for its observations. Despite the length of time that had elapsed and the gravity of the allegations made, the Government had not forwarded its observations. Consequently, the Committee had requested the Government in November 1976 to transmit, as a matter of urgency, the observations requested from it. The Government replied in a letter dated 24 January 1977.
3. 112. Jordan has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but it has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 113. The complainants alleged that Mousa Kwaider and Fathalla Omran, leaders of the Textile Workers' Federation of Jordan, which is affiliated to the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers, had been arrested. They demanded their release so that they could exercise their trade union functions.
2. 114. In its reply, the Government stated that the persons concerned were being held for political reasons affecting the security of the State and not for reasons connected with their trade union activities.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 115. The Committee has already drawn attention on many previous occasions to the importance which it has always attached to the principle of prompt and fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary in all cases, including cases in which trade unionists are charged with political or criminal offences which the Government considers have no relation to their trade union functions. Where the information received by the Committee has made it clear that the persons concerned were tried by the competent judicial authorities with all the safeguards of a normal judicial procedure and sentenced for offences unconnected with their trade union activities or outside the scope of normal trade union activities, the Committee has considered that the cases in question did not call for further examination. Nevertheless, the Committee has insisted that the question as to whether the matter in respect of which sentences have been imposed is to be regarded as a matter relating to a criminal offence or as a matter relating to the exercise of trade union rights is not one which can be determined unilaterally by the government concerned, but that it is incumbent upon the Committee to decide this in the light of all the information, and in particular in the light of the text of the judgement.,
2. 116. In the present case, the Government has supplied no information on the grounds for arrest of the persons concerned and does not indicate if they have been placed at the disposal of the judicial authority.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 117. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the attention of the Government to the principles expressed in paragraph 115 above;
   • (b) to request the Government to supply detailed information regarding the specific acts with which the persons named by the complainants have been charged, to indicate whether judicial proceedings have been instituted against them and, if so, to transmit the text of the judgements delivered together with the grounds adduced therefor; and
   • (c) to take note of this interim report.