Rapport où le comité demande à être informé de l’évolution de la situation - Rapport No. 68, 1963

1. 43. By telegram of 21 November 1962, supplemented by a letter of the same date, the Pan-African Union of Christian Workers made a complaint to the I.L.O of infringement of freedom of association by the Government of Dahomey. The Union also gave additional information in support of this complaint by letter dated 29 November 1962. The I.F.C.T.U made a complaint respecting the same events which is contained in three communications dated respectively 26 November, 27 November and 10 December 1962. All the above communications were transmitted to the Government, which made its observations thereon by letter dated 14 January 1963.
2. 44. When it accepted membership of the International Labour Organisation, by letter dated 9 December 1960, the Government of the Republic of Dahomey declared itself bound by the obligations arising out of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).
3. 45. In the resolutions adopted at the First African Regional Conference (Lagos, December 1960) the Conference inter alia noted:
   • with great satisfaction that all the African States which have become Members of the I.L.O since 1950 have recognised themselves to be bound by the obligations of Conventions the provisions of which had previously been declared applicable to their respective territories by the countries which were responsible for their administration and international relations,
   • and requested:
   • the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to invite governments in respect of whose countries complaints may be made to the Governing Body Committee on Freedom of Association to give their whole-hearted co-operation to that Committee, in particular by replying to requests for observations made to them and by taking the fullest possible account of any recommendations which may be made to them by the Governing Body following examination of such complaints.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 46. The complainants allege that, by Decree of the Council of Ministers No. 494/PR/ MAISD of 17 November 1962, published at Cotonou on 20 November, the Government dissolved the Dahoman Confederation of Christian Workers (C.D.T.C.).
2. 47. A circular (copy transmitted by complainants) which was issued by the Minister of Finance and Labour on 19 November 1962 and addressed to " all ministers, governors, labour inspectors, directors of public and private undertakings " states that the C.D.T.C has been dissolved in virtue of the above-mentioned decree and is prohibited throughout the territory of the Republic of Dahomey. It goes on to say that all local unions of the Confederation are dissolved, that all bodies on which the C.D.T.C is represented no longer legally exist, that union stewards elected on the basis of lists submitted by the C.D.T.C have lost their legal status, and that employers required to have union stewards in their undertakings may contact the " lawful trade union organisations " with a view to new elections.
3. 48. The complainant organisations declare that the decree dissolving the C.D.T.C is the final step in a government policy, the effects of which have already been felt for some time. They state that the Government of Dahomey is manifestly determined to impose a single trade union organisation on the workers of the country; that with this object it has openly abandoned its neutrality and come out actively in favour of the General Union of Dahoman Workers to the detriment of the C.D.T.C although the latter enjoyed the workers' preference.
4. 49. In its reply the Government recognises that it issued the decree complained of, but then described the dissolution of the C.D.T.C as an " operation of first-rate importance in the national interest ", and expresses the view that " Dahomey, an independent sovereign State, is the only judge of the best way in which to achieve the objectives pursued by the International Labour Organisation ".
5. 50. This last statement calls for observations on the part of the Committee. As already pointed out in paragraph 44 above, when it became a member of the International Labour Organisation Dahomey assumed the obligations arising out of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and is therefore solemnly bound by the provisions of that instrument. Furthermore, the Constitution and Constitutional practice of the I.L.O have established a procedure for supervising performance of the international obligations assumed by States Members of the Organisation. Accordingly, it is not correct to claim that a State which is party to an International Labour Convention is the " only judge " of the best way in which to perform the obligations which ratification of such an instrument has placed upon it.
6. 51. In support of its doctrine, to the effect that elimination of an element of discord in the trade union movement would strengthen the unity which the country's development requires, the Government quotes a passage-which it appears to regard as bearing out its own argument-from the Director-General's reply to the discussion of his Report at the 46th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 1962), namely:
   • Should we in the I.L.O not study more thoroughly than has yet been done the conditions of trade union growth in developing countries, the problems of industrial relations, the problems of organising rural workers, and the role trade unions do and can play in the promotion of economic growth ?
   • In the same speech, however, the Director-General also said:
   • ... the I.L.O has defined in international standards the principles of human rights which are basic to the attainment of the Organisation's objectives in the world today and in the world of tomorrow. These principles of freedom of association, abolition of forced labour and prevention of discrimination reinforce the statements of the I.L.O's purposes in the Preamble to the Constitution and the Declaration of Philadelphia, by providing a standard of conduct on critical current issues touching the respect which is due the individual personality and its freedom in social relations.
7. 52. As for the dissolution itself, the Government explains this by the following considerations: the people of Dahomey, the Dahoman Unity Party, the National Assembly and the Government believe that, in the prevailing national situation, it is impossible to ensure " the well-being of the people and working classes " otherwise than by complete unity of all the active forces of the nation, both at the political and at the trade union level; " in order to face the challenge of development we have viewed trade unionism as a development factor and have worked out a trade union doctrine giving a dynamic and progressive content to the workers' claims "; " trade union freedom cannot be based on anarchy; as soon as it tends to undermine the unity of the workers it becomes incompatible with the notion of defending the working classes ".
8. 53. "In our society" the Government continues "the will to co-operate must be victorious over the factors of dissension which we cannot tolerate. Consequently, any disrupting movement can only be harmful in the present situation.... Dahomey, long split by internal conflict, is determined to unite so that its economic take-off may at last be possible."
9. 54. As for the organisation which is now dissolved, the C.D.T.C, the Government states that it is not representative " in the sense of the international Conventions and resolutions " because it has no real trade union membership in any branch of the national economy but is composed of a few individuals who sow discord in the ranks of the workers; furthermore, by its affiliation to the Pan-African Union of Christian Workers and the I.F.C.T.U, the C.D.T.C receives subsidies from these international organisations which serve to " maintain discord ". To justify the dissolution the Government finally says: " We therefore considered that the Dahoman Confederation of Christian Workers, by reason of its compromising, anti-national affiliation to an international union, was a nucleus of disturbance for our country's social peace. "
10. 55. The Committee in this case has to assess the action taken by the authorities in the light of the applicable international standards. The Government admits that the C.D.T.C was dissolved by decree. As the Committee has pointed out on many occasions, under Article 4 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority; the action having been taken by decree, the organisation to which it was applied did not enjoy all the safeguards attaching to due process of law; accordingly, the dissolution is an infringement of Article 4 of the above-mentioned Convention, to which Dahomey is a party and by which it is therefore bound.
11. 56. Moreover, in its observations, the Government clearly indicates the policy which it followed in this matter and which it intends to follow in the future. It says that it is not prepared to " tolerate " a trade union movement split into several tendencies and that it is determined to impose unity on the whole movement. As the Committee has strongly pointed out on several occasions, Article 2 of Convention No. 87 provides that workers and employers shall have the right to establish and to join organisations " of their own choosing ". This provision of the Convention is in no way intended as an expression of support either for the idea of trade union unity or for that of trade union diversity. It is intended to convey on the one hand that in many countries there are several organisations among which the workers or the employers may wish to choose freely and, on the other hand, that workers and employers may wish to establish new organisations in a country where no such diversity has hitherto been found. In other words, although the Convention is evidently not intended to make trade union diversity an obligation, it does at least require this diversity to remain possible in all cases. Accordingly, any governmental attitude involving the " imposition " of a single trade union organisation would be contrary to Article 2 of Convention No. 87.
12. 57. The Committee wishes lastly to call attention to the following: in its reply the Government refers to the C.D.T.C's " compromising and anti-national affiliation to an international union " as justifying dissolution. As the Committee has already pointed out in the past, the right of national workers' organisations to affiliate with international organisations of workers is clearly laid down in Article 5 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), which has been ratified by Dahomey.