Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) Convention, 1925 (No. 17) - Iraq (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes with regret that the report supplied by the Government repeats word for word the report provided in 1993. It trusts, in these conditions, that the Government will not fail to provide detailed information on the following points, which have been raised in its comments for many years.

Article 2 of the Convention.  In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to indicate the categories of workers who may benefit under section 112 of the Labour Code of 1987, which provides for the application to uninsured workers of the provisions on employment accidents of Act No. 39 of 1971 respecting workers’ retirement and social security. The Committee wished in particular to be informed whether this section only concerns workers whom the employer has omitted to insure, even though they are covered by Act No. 39 of 1971, or whether it also covers workers who cannot be insured because they do not come within the scope of the social security system.

In this respect, the Committee noted Instruction No. 3130 of 12 February 1989 respecting the compensation of uninsured workers in the event of employment accidents. It also noted the Government’s statement that all workers are covered by the protection, irrespective of whether they are insured, including workers whom the employer has omitted to insure. In view of the fact that, by virtue of section 3, the application of Act No. 39 of 1971 to all the workers covered by the Labour Code will be progressive, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate whether section 112 of the Labour Code, as well as the above Instruction, also apply to workers who cannot yet be insured under the terms of the above Act, and particularly those working in enterprises employing fewer than five workers.

Article 5.  For a number of years, the Committee has been pointing out to the Government that the national legislation does not appear, in accordance with this provision of the Convention, to ensure the proper utilization of the compensation paid in the form of a lump sum to the victim of an employment accident causing permanent incapacity of less than 35 per cent. It recalls that, in its previous report, the Government stated that the beneficiaries in question receive the compensation and at the same time keep their job and the whole of their wage, but that the Government did not indicate the provisions by virtue of which the workers concerned keep their job and their wage. In its 1992 observation, the Committee therefore requested the Government to supply further information on this subject.

In its report, the Government refers to section 36(5) of the Labour Code of 1987, by virtue of which a contract of employment shall be terminated "when the worker has become incapacitated to the extent of 75 per cent or more and is unfit to work, as substantiated by an official medical certificate". According to the Government, this means that a contract of employment cannot be terminated in cases where the worker suffers from a rate of permanent incapacity which is below 75 per cent. While noting this information, the Committee notes that this provision does not appear to prevent a contract of employment being terminated in the case of workers who are incapacitated to an extent that is less than 75 per cent on grounds other than incapacity referred to in this section of the Labour Code. It may be deduced from the above that the maintenance in employment of victims of employment accidents resulting in a rate of permanent incapacity of under 35 per cent, referred to by the Government, does not provide sufficient grounds for dispensing the competent authority from ascertaining the proper utilization of the lump sum paid to such victims by way of compensation. In these conditions, the Committee is bound once again to hope that the Government will take all the necessary measures to ensure observance of the Convention in this respect.