Interim Report - Report No 218, November 1982

Case No 1043 (Bahrain) - Complaint date: 01-JUN-81 - Closed

1. 482. This case was already examined by the Committee at its November 1981 meeting at which it drew up interim conclusions.& Since then, the Government has provided further information in communications of 11 May and 31 July 1982.
2. 483. Bahrain has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), or the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 484. The allegations still pending after the Committee's last examination of the case concern the fact that, according to the complainants, national legislation does not give workers the right to form trade unions of their own choosing, the alleged failure of the joint Committees which the Government is said to be seeking to substitute for the workers trade unions, the difficulties encountered by the interim workers, Committee, the arrest without trial of 17 persons for attempting to join a trade union organisation and the ill-treatment of trade unionists in prison, allegedly leading to the death of one of them named Jameel Ali.
2. 485. At its November 1981 Session, the Governing Body had adopted the interim conclusions proposed by the Committee on Freedom of Association and requested the Government to send its observations on the allegations to which it had not replied, namely the detention without trial of 17 trade unionists named by the complainants, the ill-treatment and torture of other detained trade unionists, including the death of Jameel Ali, the alleged non-conformity of the 1976 Labour Law for the Private Sector with ILO Convention No. 87, and the difficulties said to have been encountered by the interim Workers Committee. The Committee had invited the Government to forward its observations on these allegations as soon as possible.

B. Allegations concerning the national legislation

1. 486. The complainants have denounced what they see as the non-conformity between the 1976 Labour Law for the Private Sector and ILO Convention No. 87. In particular, they consider that this law does not grant workers the right to form trade unions of their own choosing, that it does not recognise the right to strike, that Lt excludes from its scope agricultural workers and part-time workers, that it imposes arbitration as a means of settling labour disputes and that it allows the minister to decide on methods of appointing workers representatives to the joint Committees. Furthermore, the Government is said still not to have applied section 1421 of the 1976 Law on Joint Committees as amended in 1981 (Decree No. 8).
2. 487. In its reply of 6 May 1982, which arrived too late to be examined by the Committee at its previous meeting, the Government recalls that Convention No. 87 has not been ratified by Bahrain. It considers, however, that the new legislative provisions concerning the setting up of joint Committees consisting of workers and employers in each establishment and the General Committee for Bahrain Workers are giving effect to its policy which aims to promote and strengthen the progressive development of collective bargaining. It considers that allowance should be made for the need to overcome the existing obstacles, the greatest of which is the weakness of the employers and workers organisations; this should be overcome by training in the field of industrial relations in the context of a workers education programme in which the ILO has been invited to take part.
3. 488. Consequently, the Government states, it was necessary to set up the General Committee for Bahrain Workers as a freely elected Organisation representative of the workers interests, with independent status and for the purpose of regulating relations between workers and employers.
4. 489. The complainant organisations had considered that the difficulties encountered by the interim Workers Committee stemmed from the failure of the joint Committees which the Government was allegedly trying to substitute for the workers trade unions. The Bahrain Workers Union, in exile in Syria, had sent a copy of a letter dated December 1980 from the Chairman of the interim workers, Committee to the Minister in which he complained that the Committee's work had been hampered by lack of funds and premises and meagre membership involved (the four employers on the Committee employing only 5 per cent of the Bahrain workforce). The Chairman also stated that the Committee would be forced to resign if these difficulties could not be overcome. As far as these matters are concerned, the Government gives an assurance that the problems have been solved. The amendment to the Law (Decree No. 8 of 1981) gives the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs the power to extend the provisions of section 142 to various establishments, thus guaranteeing the Committee the right to exercise its prerogatives of leadership, as prescribed by the law.

C. Allegations concerning the detention, ill-treatment and death of trade unionists

1. 490. The complainants had alleged the arrest without trial of 17 trade unionists, whose names follow: Youness Abdel Rida Kassir, Youssef Ali Zaied, Abdel Rasoul Ali Galoum, Ahmed El Saied Mohamed El-Moussaoui, Khaled Abdel Azir El Kassir, Abdel Mohamed Galoum, Moussa Jaafar Alaoui, Mohamed Houssein Rached, Ali Mouhsen Abdallah, Jalal Mohamed Halouaji, Sami Ali Maki Maukeich, Abdel Sunad Housein Fathi, Mohamed Iskander Mohamed, Ahmed Ali Houssein Zeinal, Mohamed Ali Galoum Wadi, Nasser Hassen El Hadad and Mirza Mohamed Ali El Fardan.
2. 491. In its reply of 31 July 1982, the Government states that Youness Abdel Rida Kassir, Youssef Ahmed Ali Zaied, Abdel Rasoul Ali Galoum, Ahmed El Saied Mohamed El-Moussaoui, Khaled Abdel Azir El Kassir and Abdel Mohamed Galoum were sentenced, on 30 April 1981, to four years imprisonment in the case of the first four, and to one year in the case of the fifth and sixth for incitement to join a political organisation aiming to change the political regime of the State by force, in contravention of sections 159(2) and 160 of the Penal Code, incitement to hatred against the regime and using force against the police by throwing Molotov cocktails at them. Abdel Mohamed Galoum has been released after serving his sentence, the Government explains.
3. 492. The Government also indicates that Mohamed Houssein Rached, Nasser Hassen Mohammed Nasser El Hadad and Mirza Mohamed Ali El Fardan were sentenced on 27 April 1981 to terms of imprisonment ranging from four to seven years for belonging to an organisation aiming to overthrow the regime by force, taking part in rallies and meetings, and disseminating tracts calling for the overthrow of the regime, under sections 159(1) and (3), 160, 161, 165 and 178 of the Penal Code; Moussa Jaafar Alaoui was acquitted and released; Ali Mouhsen Abdallah, Jalal Mohamed Halouaji and Sami Ali Maki Maukeich were sentenced on 11 May 1981 to terms of imprisonment ranging from one year to one-and-a-half years for incitement to hatred against the regime and taking part in a demonstration.
4. 493. As for Abdel Sunad Housein Fathi, Mohamed Iskander Mohamed Baker, Ahmed Ali Houssein Zeinal and Mohamed Ali Galoum Ali Mouradi, they were sentenced on 25 June 1981 to two years' imprisonment for using loudspeakers at public meetings to incite the population to rise up against the regime and for taking part in demonstrations and clashes with the police.
5. 494. The complainants had referred to the poor conditions which allegedly, the trade union leaders Abdellah Montejouch, Hassan Serhan and Abdel Karim Salman had experienced in prison.
6. 495. Concerning this allegation, the Government states that Hassan Serhan was charged with belonging to a prohibited organisation which aimed at overthrowing the regime by force, and released on 13 September 1981. The same charges were brought against Abdel Karim Salman Ahmad but, at the time of the Government's reply, 31 July 1982, the sitting of the court which was to examine the case had not yet been fixed. Finally, Abdallah Laghmich was arrested on 13 June 1981 and charged with the murder of a policeman but, as the facts had not been established, he was released.
7. 496. Concerning the alleged death of Jameel Ali, the Government has not yet communicated its observations.

D. The Committee's conclusions

1. 497. The Committee takes note of the explanations provided by the Government in this case, but wishes to return to the various questions raised by the complainants which give rise to particular concern.
2. 498. As regards the allegation of non-conformity between the national legislation and the principles established by the Conventions concerning freedom of association, and the failure to give the workers the right to form unions of their own choosing and the right to strike, the exclusion of agricultural and part-time workers from the scope of the Code, and the imposition of compulsory arbitration for the settlement of labour disputes, as well as the failure of the joint Committees and the difficulties encountered by the interim Workers Committee, the Committee notes that the Government states that it has not ratified Convention No. 87, but that the new provisions on the joint Committees and the General Committee for Workers aim to promote and develop collective bargaining. According to the Government, these Committees are made up of freely elected representatives, and the law has empowered the Minister of Labour to extend the provisions of section 142 of the Code to various undertakings. The Committee also notes the Government's explanations concerning the weakness of employers and workers organisations and the need for training in industrial relations and in workers education.
3. 499. Bahrain has not in fact ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 67), the Right to organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) or the Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11), which, consequently, are not binding on the country. However, by its membership of the International Labour Organisation, Bahrain is bound to respect a certain number of general rules including the principles of freedom of association which have become customary rules above the Conventions. As stated by the Committee in its First Report, approved by the Governing Body in March 1952, "the function of the International Labour Organisation in regard to trade union rights is to contribute to the effectiveness of the general principle of freedom of association as one of the primary safeguards of peace and social justice". The Committee notes with appreciation that the Government of Bahrain has, moreover, replied in substance on various aspects of the complaint.
4. 500. While taking note of the Government's explanations on the weakness of the trade union movement, which is just beginning to be formed, and on the assistance it is giving to the setting up of joint Committees at undertakings and to the General Committee for workers at the national level and of some positive aspects of the 1981 amendments to the 1976 Labour Law for the Private Sector, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the, fact that a legislative situation in which the workers of a country are unable to form the trade union organisations of their own choosing and to join them in order to protect their own interests is contrary to the principles of freedom of association. It also recalls that persons employed in agriculture should have the same rights of association and combination as workers in industry, that the right to strike is generally recognised as a legitimate means for workers and workers organisations to defend their occupational interests, and that compulsory arbitration should be employed solely to put an end to strikes in the essential services in the strict sense of the term, that is those which, if interrupted, might endanger the existence or well-being of all or part of the population. The Committee further emphasises that, while trade union training is to be encouraged, it is for the unions themselves to arrange for this, even if in so doing they might benefit from any material and moral assistance the Government might offer them. The Committee therefore expresses the firm hope that the legislation will be amended in the near future to establish clearly the right of all workers, including agricultural and part-time workers, to form, if they so wish, the organisations of their own choosing and to recognise the right of workers and workers organisations to strike as a legitimate means of defending their occupational interests.
5. 501. Regarding the allegations concerning the detention without trial of named trade unionists, the Committee notes the Government's explanations that these persons were sentenced by a court to imprisonment for incitement to overthrow the regime, demonstrations, clashes with the police and disturbances of the peace, sometimes involving the use of loudspeakers and the dissemination of tracts. The Committee notes that the persons concerned have received heavy sentences ranging from one to seven years imprisonment.
6. 502. The Committee has on many occasions stressed the importance which it attaches to the fact that, in all cases, including those when trade unionists are accused of political or criminal offences which the Government regards as incompatible with their trade union activities, the persons concerned should be tried promptly by an impartial and independent judicial authority. The Committee has also pointed out that in many cases in which the complainants alleged that workers or trade union leaders had been arrested or sentenced because of their trade union activities and in which the governments replies were confined to refuting such allegations or to pointing out that the arrests had been made because of subversive activities, for reasons of internal security or for common law crimes, it has adopted the practice of asking the governments concerned for the most accurate information possible on the measures protested against. The Committee has so acted because it considers that it is for the government to show that the measures it has taken do not stem from the trade union activities of the persons concerned, particularly when trade union rights as such are not guaranteed by the legislation and the allegations indicate that the persons were sentenced for wishing to join a trade union organisation.
7. 503. The Committee hopes that the Government will endeavour to adopt an attitude of clemency towards the sentenced trade unionists in order to bring about a climate favourable to the development of good industrial relations.
8. 504. The Committee further requests the Government to transmit its information on the alleged death of the trade unionist Jameel Ali, which is said to have resulted from the ill-treatment to which he was subjected.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 505. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve the present interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
   • (a) The Committee notes that the information supplied by the Government does not answer the detailed allegations of the complainants on all points. In particular, the Committee notes that, according to the complainants, persons have received heavy sentences for attempting to join a trade union organisation and that the Government has confined itself to stating that they were sentenced for incitement to overthrow the regime, demonstrations, clashes with the police and disturbances of the peace, sometimes including the use of loudspeakers and the dissemination of tracts. While recalling that it is for the Government to show that the measures it has taken do not stem from the trade union activities of the persons concerned, the Committee hopes that the Government will endeavour to adopt an attitude of clemency towards the sentenced trade unionists, in order to bring about a climate favourable to the development of good industrial relations.
   • (b) As regards the case as a whole, the Committee emphasises that the right of workers to form organisations of their own choosing implies the possibility of establishing fully independent trade union organisations in a climate of security.
   • (c) With regard to the legislative aspect of the case, while noting some positive aspects of the 1981 amendments to the 1976 Labour Law for the Private Sector, the Committee expresses the firm hope that in the near future the legislation will be amended to establish clearly the right of all workers, including agricultural and part-time workers, to form, if they so wish, the trade union organisations of their own choosing and to recognise the right of workers and their organisations to strike as a legitimate means of defending their occupational interests.
   • (d) Finally, the Committee requests the Government to transmit its observations regarding the alleged death of the trade unionist Jameel Ali which is said to have resulted from the ill-treatment to which he was subjected.