Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 310, June 1998

Case No 1894 (Mauritania) - Complaint date: 25-JUN-96 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 30. At its November 1997 meeting, the Committee urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that the Free Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CLTM) and the Mauritanian Transport Workers' Federation (FTM) obtained legal recognition in the very near future so that they might defend and promote the interests of their members (see 308th Report, paras. 526-540).
2. 31. Since then, the complainants indicated in a communication dated 8 March 1998 that the secretary-general and the workers' education officer of the CLTM, Messrs. Samory Ould Beye and Sid' Amed Ould Salek, had been arrested on 5 February 1998 at 2 p.m., and had since been held under house arrest.
3. 32. At its meeting in March 1998, the Committee insisted that the Government take steps to ensure that both complainant organizations obtain legal recognition in the very near future and that the Government send its observations concerning the alleged arrest of their trade union leaders.
4. 33. In a communication dated 5 May 1998, the Government states that, after analysing the by-laws of the Free Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CLTM), and pursuant to section 9 of book III of the Labour Code, the Public Prosecutor of the Republic certified that the by-laws were legal. The Government adds that the Confederation has thus legally existed since 30 April 1998. In a communication of 11 May 1998, the Government states also that the trade union leaders referred to in the complaint have all been released and are entitled to full freedom of movement.
5. 34. The Committee notes this information with interest. It nonetheless requests the Government to do everything possible to permit the other complainant organization, the Transport Workers' Federation (FTM), to obtain legal recognition as quickly as possible, as Article 2 of Convention No. 87 stipulates that workers shall have the right, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. It requests the Government to keep it informed of any measures taken in this regard.