Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1999, publiée 88ème session CIT (2000)

1. The Committee notes that at its 276th Session (November 1999), the Governing Body of the ILO approved the report of the committee set up to examine the representation examining non-observance by Bosnia and Herzegovina of Convention No. 111, made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution by the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (USIBH) and the Union of Metalworkers (SM). According to this committee, the facts alleged by the USIBH and the SM - which are not contested by the Government - that is, the dismissal of workers solely on the grounds of their Serbian or Bosnian origin and their replacement by workers of Croatian origin, are corroborated by a coherent body of evidence. The Governing Body committee therefore considered that the facts, as described by the USIBH and the SM, constitute a violation of Convention No. 111, since the type of discrimination described in the representation is of the kind prohibited by Article 1(a) of that instrument, in that it involves an exclusion based solely on national extraction or religious belief which has the effect of destroying equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation between workers of Croatian extraction and the workers of Bosnian or Serbian extraction employed by the "Aluminium" and "Soko" undertakings. Although the representation refers only to Convention No. 111, the Governing Body considers that the alleged facts also violate certain provisions of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), and the Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158), both ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina. In its recommendations, the Governing Body entrusted the follow-up of this matter to the Committee of Experts.

2. The Committee, like the Governing Body, is aware of the complexity of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the country has recently emerged from a civil war essentially fuelled by ethnic and religious conflict. It notes in this connection that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its Decision 6(53) on Bosnia and Herzegovina of August 1998 (A/53/18, paragraph IIB6), expressed "its alarm about the many violations of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the depth of the persisting divisions reflecting clear patterns of discrimination and separation based on national and ethnic origin", despite important progress made in certain fields. The Committee is therefore convinced that one of the best means of promoting national reconciliation and peace is the establishment of the rule of law and the formulation and implementation of a genuine national policy of equality of opportunity and treatment in all spheres - including in employment and occupation. It therefore welcomes the fact that the human rights and freedoms set forth in many international instruments protecting human rights annexed to the Constitution have the binding force of the provisions of the Constitution and are applied in the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It notes that under the Constitution all courts, all administrative bodies and all bodies exercising public authority are obliged to apply and respect the rights and freedoms enshrined in these instruments.

3. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken to ensure that the workers dismissed from the "Aluminium" and "Soko" factories solely on the grounds of their Bosnian or Serbian extraction or their religion: (a) receive adequate compensation for the damage that they have sustained; (b) receive payment of any wage arrears and any other benefits to which they would be entitled if they had not been dismissed; and (c) are as far as possible reinstated in their posts without losing length of service entitlements. It also requests the Government to indicate whether a formal dismissal procedure, in accordance with the provisions of Convention No. 158, which has been ratified by Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been instituted, in the event that the reinstatement of all or some of the workers in question is not possible.

4. In more general terms, the Committee hopes that a genuine national policy to promote equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation will be formulated and implemented so as to eliminate all discrimination in this sphere - as called for under Article 2 of the Convention - and that the Government will supply detailed information on the measures taken in this connection in its next report. It also hopes to receive information on the measures taken to inform and train magistrates and labour inspectors and all other public servants concerned in the application of the Convention. Finally, noting the action of the Federation Ombudsman to promote human rights and the establishment of the rule of law, referred to by the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Decision 6(53) on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Committee requests the Government to transmit a copy of the Ombudsman's most recent report.

5. See also the comments made under Conventions Nos. 81 and 158.