Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1961)

The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government in its last report.

1. Article 3: Right of organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom. The Committee notes that the Government states in its report that section 273 of the draft Labour Code takes into account the previous comments of the Committee to the effect that to hold trade union office it is necessary to be of Mauritanian nationality, or for foreign workers to have had exercised the profession which the trade union represents for five consecutive years in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The Committee considers however that the text of the previous code was preferable.

2. Right of organizations to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes freely in order to promote and defend the interests of their members. The Government states in its report that the restrictions on the right to strike imposed by sections 39, 40, 45 and 48 of Book IV of the Labour Code currently in force could be lifted by the draft Labour Code. While taking note of this information, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures, as quickly as possible, to adopt the new Labour Code and to ensure that its provisions will guarantee the right of trade union organizations to have recourse to strike action in order to defend the social, economic and occupational interests of their members. It further requests the Government to indicate in its next report any progress made in this respect as well as to provide a copy of the new Code once it has been adopted.