Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143) - Uganda (Ratification: 1978)

Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government has set up a tripartite national Labour Legislation Review Committee charged with drawing up proposals for the review process and that it has also requested the ILO for technical assistance for the review of that legislation. The Committee hopes that a revised legislation will soon be adopted and that it will provide:

(a)in accordance with Article 3(b) and Article 6(1), of the Convention that the recruitment and employment of migrant workers who have immigrated in illegal conditions shall be forbidden and that such prohibition shall be enforced by appropriate penalties against the organisers of illicit or clandestine movements of migrants and against those who employ such workers;

(b)in conformity with Article 14(a), that migrant workers shall have the free choice of employment, after an initial period of lawful residence not exceeding two years;

(c)in application of the policy of equal treatment and opportunity, as prescribed by Article 10, that the provisions of the new labour legislation shall be applicable to all migrant workers and members of their families lawfully residing in Uganda so as to avoid any restriction such as it is foreseen by the present wording of section 5, subsection 4, of the Employment Decree, 1975, which is contrary to the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate any progress made in the adoption of a revised legislation in the meaning of the Convention.