Interim Report - Report No 256, June 1988

Case No 1337 (Nepal) - Complaint date: 21-MAY-85 - Closed

1. 282. The Committee has examined this case on three previous occasions - in May 1986, May 1987 and November 1987 (see 244th Report, paras. 337-356, 251st Report, paras. 373-398, and 253rd Report, paras. 302-327), when it submitted interim reports to the Governing Body. Since then the WCOTP has sent new allegations in a communication of 16 December 1987 and the Government has sent a partial reply, dated 29 January 1988, to the allegations submitted in this case.
2. 283. Nepal 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. 284. In its previous examinations of this case, the Committee noted that the WCOTP alleged the following: (1) refusal, since early 1980, by the authorities to register the Nepal National Teachers' Association (NNTA); (2) refusal by the Minister of Education to enter into negotiations with the NNTA, whereas two new government-controlled teachers' unions had been set up; (3) repressive actions by the authorities, including the death of six district officers of the NNTA, detention for over two years of eight NNTA leaders, interference in the NNTA second national conference by the police and mass arrests of demonstrating teachers. The complainant organisation supplied a list of 61 named teachers allegedly dismissed because of their trade union activities and a list of 35 named teachers allegedly transferred for such activities.
2. 285. In its communication of 25 May 1987, the Government stated that the complaint lodged by the Nepal National Teachers' Association was baseless and malicious and that its allegations were intended to malign the Government. The Government explained in general terms the importance of youth in the building of the nation and the importance of teachers, who were responsible for inculcating discipline and providing knowledge. The Government had therefore tried to raise the morale and spirit of teachers in Nepal, and had recently constituted an ad hoc committee to draft a constitution to form a teachers' association for the promotion of teaching and academic work, career development and protection of the rights and interests of the teachers, within the parameters of the constitution and the law of the land. The Government stated that the committee was chaired by a member of Parliament and included a wide range of representatives from both the primary- and secondary-level teachers of the country.
3. 286. According to the Government the ad hoc committee had drafted the constitutions of the Nepal National Primary Teachers' Association and the Nepal National Secondary Teachers' Association, both of which had received the Government's assent. Central-level ad hoc committees had been constituted to set up the primary- and secondary-level teachers' associations as envisaged in the newly drafted constitutions, and the problems of the teachers had therefore been solved. Lastly, the Government stated that no teacher had been imprisoned on the grounds of his or her educational or academic pursuits.
4. 287. In a subsequent communication dated 30 July 1987, the WCOTP alleged that the police hindered the activities of its Asian Regional Representative while he was in Kathmandu, and prevented the holding of its affiliate's third national conference, scheduled for 25-27 June 1987, at which 185 NNTA delegates were expected. In addition, the WCOTP cited a newspaper report of the Minister of Education's statement in Parliament to the effect that any organisation other than the newly formed Nepal Primary Teachers' Association and the Nepal Secondary Teachers' Association would be illegal under section 6 of the Act of the year 2018 BS of the Nepalese calendar, which prohibits the creation of associations parallel to already registered ones. This same report quoted the Minister as threatening "strong action" against those planning a conference on 25-27 June and indulging in activities banned by law.
5. 288. Furthermore, the WCOTP Regional Representative sent to Kathmandu to attend the NNTA's third national conference was placed under police surveillance, including the tapping of his hotel telephone, from the moment of his arrival. On 24 June the police prevented him from visiting the NNTA's office. Officials of the UNDP advised him that the authorities would not be responsible for his safety if he remained in the country. Two NNTA representatives who went to the Regional Representative's hotel were arrested upon their arrival. On 27 June the co-ordinator and three other principal officers of the "Central Ad Hoc Committee" established by the Government to set up the two government-controlled associations attempted to visit the Regional Representative but were prevented by the police. They appealed by telephone from the hotel to a number of ministers and government officials but were unable to obtain authority to speak to the WCOTP representative.
6. 289. The WCOTP stated that the ban on contact with international organisations was a flagrant violation of freedom of association.
7. 290. The WCOTP supplied a list of 72 arrested teachers. According to the WCOTP, the first arrests of teachers in connection with a national conference began as delegates from outlying areas were preparing to leave their homes a week before the conference. Teachers were seized, confined to cells where there was no room to lie down and refused food. On 25 June 1987, in the vicinity of the NNTA office, there were, it stated, arrests of teachers, students, parents and passers-by.
8. 291. On the evening of 25 June, the WCOTP stated, an attempt by the police to enter the NNTA office was frustrated by a gathering of local people. During that day the premises on which the conference was to be held were surrounded by police and all access prohibited. The conference, however, did take place on 27 June at an undisclosed location and was, according to the WCOTP, peaceful and attended by members of Parliament, representatives of parents, students, professional associations and the press, and it elected a national executive committee.
9. 292. In the light of the information at its disposal at its November 1987 meeting, the Committee submitted the following interim recommendations to the Governing Body for approval:
   • a) The Committee expresses its profound regret that the Government has supplied only a general denial of the allegations in this case in spite of many requests for its specific observations and that the Committee has therefore been obliged to examine the case in the absence of specific and detailed information.
   • b) The Committee requests the Government to set up a judicial inquiry to investigate the alleged deaths of teacher trade unionists at the hands of the police and to inform it of the charges brought against the eight named trade union leaders of the Nepal National Teachers' Association.
   • c) The Committee requests the Government to supply, as rapidly and in as detailed a manner as possible, its observations on the complainant's most recent communication alleging police disturbance of the NNTA's third national conference, including the arrest of 72 named teachers and interference in the national union's international contacts.
   • d) The Committee again requests the Government to supply its specific comments on the alleged police raid on the NNTA premises in May 1985 and the confiscation of union papers.
   • e) The Committee urges the Government to examine the Director-General's offer to send a representative to Nepal in order to discuss the general situation and find solutions to the problems raised in this case, in the light of ILO principles on freedom of association.

B. Further allegations

1. 293. In a further letter dated 16 December 1987 the WCOTP stated that Mr. Sushill Chandra Amatya, a founder member of the NNTA, was still in prison four months after his arrest. The WCOTP supplied a list of nine named teachers who were leaders of the NNTA and were arrested in November 1987. The WCOTP added that repression continued; that the salaries of teachers with NNTA connections were not paid; and that government officials were visiting every school, threatening and pressing teachers to join the two associations formed by the Government.

C. The Government's reply

1. 294. In its letter of 29 January 1988 the Government affirms that the constitutions of the two associations of primary and secondary teachers were duly approved by the Government on 12 February 1987 in accordance with the National Guidance Act of the year 2018 BS of the Nepalese calendar. The Government repeats its previous statement that these constitutions were adopted after discussions at a meeting of the teachers' representatives from all the 14 zones of Nepal.
2. 295. The Government states that under the said constitutions, two separate ad hoc committees at the central level were formed, one for secondary teachers and one for primary school teachers. It recalls that as far back as 21 years ago, in the year 2023 BS of the Nepalese calendar, the professional school teachers had asked for permission to organise themselves into two separate organisations to protect and promote their interests. Pursuant to the decisions made by the central ad hoc committees of the said associations, ad hoc committees had been formed in all districts of Nepal.
3. 296. The Government admits that persons who, it states, no longer belong to the teaching profession opposed these two associations. Those persons are Devi Prasad Ojha and Sita Ram Maskey, and a handful of their followers, and they had called for one teachers' association to be formed. These persons submitted the constitution of their association in the year 2036 BS of the Nepalese calendar, but the constitution was not approved by the Government because it made no provision for representation of primary-school teachers, and because those teachers were vehemently opposed to it and had made an application for a separate association of their own.
4. 297. The Government adds that these persons, motivated by political objectives, were making endeavours to sow the seeds of discontent in the teaching profession. They were misleading some of the teachers and declaring themselves to be members of committees they had secretly constituted.
5. 298. Nevertheless, the Government continues, the constitution independently prepared by the secondary and primary-school teachers from all the 14 zones of Nepal was warmly welcomed by the entire community of teachers. A large number of teachers who were once the supporters of the constitution of the teachers' association proposed in the year 2036 BS of the Nepalese calendar were now serving as members of the ad hoc committees formed pursuant to the approved constitution of the two associations.
6. 299. The Government states further that these two associations have as one of their aims that of electing office bearers, and that within the short period of three months district-level committees have been constituted in nearly half the total number of districts through democratic means. Meetings of teachers have, it says, accorded a warm welcome to these associations. Elections of trade union leaders at both levels have taken place among the teachers. According to the Government, the so-called NNTA trade union leaders are only self- declared leaders. Nine of them, including a secretary general, had in a joint declaration denounced the so-called NNTA for publishing their names as leaders of the NNTA without their prior knowledge, and they had dissociated themselves from the "association". The Government adds that in the context of its announcement that the so-called NNTA was illegal, it did not authorise the holding of a conference by this illegal organisation.

D. The Committee's conclusions

1. 300. The Committee notes that this case concerns the trade union representation of primary- and secondary-school teachers in Nepal and reprisals carried out against trade unionists, including the death, arrest and dismissal of trade union activists and leaders, as well as the occupation of premises and confiscation of trade union material and obstruction of a national trade union conference.
2. 301. The Committee notes that the accounts of the facts at issue given by the complainant organisation and the Government are completely contradictory.
3. 302. According to the complainant organisation, the Government flagrantly interfered in the trade union affairs of teachers, causing the death, arrest and dismissal of trade unionists, refusing to register a trade union organisation set up by Nepalese teachers themselves, occupying the premises of the organisation and hindering the holding of a national trade union conference and international contacts of Nepalese trade unionists with foreign trade union representatives.
4. 303. According to the Government, on the other hand, the two legally registered associations represent primary- and secondary-school teachers, in accordance with the wish expressed by teachers at a meeting of teachers' representatives from all the 14 zones of Nepal. The Government admits, however, that persons who, it states, no longer belong to the teaching profession opposed the setting up of these two associations and that these persons submitted the constitution of their association; it explains that this constitution was not approved because it made no provision for representation of primary-school teachers, against the express wish of such teachers.
5. 304. The Committee, while noting the Government's explanations on the matter, profoundly regrets the fact that the Government has not replied to several particularly serious allegations relating to the death, arrest and dismissal of trade unionists, as well as the occupation of premises and confiscation of trade union property.
6. 305. The Committee recalls the principle expressed in its First Report (para. 31), that the purpose of the whole procedure set up in the ILO for the examination of allegations of violations of freedom of association is to promote respect for trade union rights in law and in fact. As the procedure protects governments against unreasonable accusations, governments on their side should formulate, so as to allow objective examination, detailed replies to the allegations brought against them. The Committee wishes to stress that, in all the cases presented to it since it was first set up, it has always considered that the replies from governments against whom complaints are made should not be limited to general observations.
7. 306. The Committee notes that the constitutions of the two primary and secondary school teachers' associations were drafted by two committees set up by the Government. In this respect, the Committee recalls that workers' and employers' organisations should have the right to draw up freely their constitutions and rules without interference from the public authorities.
8. 307. In addition, the Committee can only repeat its previous requests, and urges the Government to supply specific and detailed information on all of the allegations in this case.
9. 308. In particular, it requests the Government to set up a judicial inquiry into the alleged deaths of teacher trade unionists at the hands of the police in 1985 and to inform it of the charges brought against the eight named trade union leaders of the NNTA, to give explanations on the occupation of NNTA premises and the confiscation of trade union papers in May 1985, and to state whether the teachers arrested in June and November 1987 as well as trade union leader Sushill Chandra Amatya, a founding member of the NNTA, have been released.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 309. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • a) The Committee regrets that, despite the time which has elapsed since the allegations were made, the Government has supplied only general observations on this case and that it has not yet replied to several specific and extremely serious allegations.
   • b) The Committee recalls that workers' organisations should have the right to draw up freely their own constitutions and rules without interference from the public authorities.
   • c) The Committee urges the Government to supply detailed information on any judicial inquiry that might have been carried out into the alleged deaths of teacher trade unionists at the hands of the police in 1985, to state the charges brought against the eight named trade union leaders of the NNTA, to give explanations of the violent occupation of premises and confiscation of NNTA property in May 1985, and to state whether the teachers arrested in June and November 1987, as well as trade union leader Sushill Chandra Amatya have been released.