Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Egypt (Ratification: 2003)

The Committee notes the partial replies from the Government to its previous comments. It requests the Government to provide additional information and also all relevant documents on the following issues.

Article 6, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention. Field of competence of the labour inspectorate. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the Labour Code is being revised with a view to extending it to agricultural occupations and including occupational safety and health standards. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep the ILO informed of all progress made in this respect and send copies of any legislative texts adopted.

Work of women and children in agriculture. The Committee requests the Government to supply a copy of the Ministerial Order (undated) concerning the employment of children and women, Order No. 118 of 2003 and Ministerial Order No. 1454, particularly with reference to the provisions of the latter concerning the prohibition of the employment of children in certain types of work such as cotton pressing, the preparation and spreading of pesticides, agriculture and the treatment of plants.

Articles 6, paragraph 1(b), 12 and 13. Cooperation in relation to surveillance of child labour in agriculture and cooperation between the inspection services and the social partners of agricultural undertakings. As in its 2008 report relating to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the Government refers to multi-sectoral cooperation in the area of child labour, particularly in agriculture, in order to prevent minors from being employed in cotton harvesting, and refers to the establishment of monitoring systems including inspections in commercial plantations with heavy agricultural production. Information meetings are also organized for employers and workers in agricultural undertakings by inspectors responsible for monitoring child labour, in cooperation with the persons holding responsibility in cooperatives – including agricultural cooperatives – and agricultural advisers. Further to its direct request of 2008 regarding the application of Convention No. 182, in which it noted that, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), now the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in 2005 some 78 per cent of working children were occupied in the agricultural sector, the Committee requests the Government to supply details of the practical functioning of the monitoring systems designed to protect children from hazardous agricultural work and the results recorded, and to send any relevant statistics which are available.

Specific cooperation between the labour inspectorate and the judiciary. Noting the information supplied by the Government regarding the content of Ministerial Order No. 129 of 2007 on this matter, the Committee requests the Government to send a copy of this text and also of the court decisions which apply these provisions.

Articles 10, 15, paragraph 1(b), and 21. Transport facilities available to labour inspectors in the performance of their duties in agriculture and activities in undertakings liable to inspection. The Government states that it is doing its utmost to provide inspectors with transport facilities and that it recognizes that this is absolutely essential for the performance of their tasks. The Committee again requests the Government to supply detailed information on the progress made in this area and indicate the extent of coverage achieved by the labour inspectorate in agriculture, the geographical distribution of the available means of transport and also the ratio of men and women inspectors with respect to the number of agricultural undertakings liable to inspection.

Articles 26 and 27. Publication and transmission of an annual report on the work of the inspection services in agriculture. The Committee notes the Government’s undertaking to take account of its previous comments regarding the possibilities offered by the Convention with respect to the form of the annual report on the work of the inspection services in agriculture. Noting the communication of a report on the activities of the labour inspectorate in 2008, received by the ILO on 14 October 2009, the Committee will examine its content together with the next report of the Government. However, it already notes that this document does not seem to be published as provided for by Article 26 of the Convention. Consequently, it requests the Government to ensure that the next annual reports on labour inspection are published.