Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2013, which again indicates that the Berber population are treated as full citizens of Tunisia, equal before the law. In its observations of 2008 and 2009, the Committee noted that the report of the Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities, adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in November 2003, referred to the situation of the Berbers (Amazigh) of North Africa, identify themselves as an indigenous people. According to the Working Group, 5 per cent of the population of Tunisia are believed to be Amazigh. The Committee recalls that, at its 270th Session (November 1997), the Governing Body invited States parties to Convention No. 107 to contemplate ratifying the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), which would, ipso jure, involve the immediate denunciation of Convention No. 107 (see the report of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, GB.270/LILS/3(Rev.1), paragraph 85). The Committee observes that, until such ratification is registered, the Government remains bound to give effect to the relevant provisions of Convention No. 107, and particularly those concerning questions raised in the current direct request. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the consultations held with the social partners on the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 169. The report should also include detailed information in reply to the points raised below.

Part I of the report form. General principles. Article 1. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the size of the Berber population and the regions of the country inhabited by them.

Articles 2, 6 and 27. The Committee recalls that under these Articles of the Convention, it is the responsibility of the Government to implement, in so far as necessary, coordinated and systematic action for the protection of the populations concerned. The Government is invited to provide information in its next report on all programmes of this nature, and is invited to provide detailed information on measures taken or envisaged to ensure the protection of the institutions, religions and cultures of the Berber population, in accordance with Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Convention.

Article 5. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the measures taken to seek the collaboration of representatives of the Berber population, in applying the provisions of the Convention as envisaged in Article 5(a). Please supply information on any difficulties encountered and the results obtained.

Articles 7, 8, 9 and 10. The Committee recalls that, under these Articles of the Convention, measures shall be taken to ensure that customary laws of the populations concerned are taken into account, as well as their methods of social control, in the definition of the rights and obligations of these populations, and so that persons belonging to the populations concerned are safeguarded against the improper application of preventive detention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures envisaged regarding the Berber population.

Part II. Land. Article 11. The Committee invites the Government to specify the regions in which the right of ownership, collective or individual, of the members of the populations concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy is recognized, and the populations concerned. In the case of collective ownership, please indicate the principal forms in which these rights are recognized by law and are exercised. In the case of individual ownership, please indicate whether there is any common use of land (for example, cooperative farming), and any legal basis for it.

Articles 12 to 14. The Committee invites the Government to specify the provisions of the national legislation which guarantee that the populations concerned cannot be removed from their habitual territory without their free consent, and to provide specific information on all circumstances in which populations have been removed from their territories, specifying the reason for their removal and the arrangements for the compensation of any resulting loss or damages.

Part IV. Vocational training, handicrafts and rural industries. Articles 16 to 18. Please indicate whether specific vocational training programmes have been implemented for the Berber population and whether handicrafts and rural industries are encouraged as factors in the economic development of these populations.

Part V. Health. Article 20. Please supply detailed information on the number and nature of the health services available for the populations concerned, the regions in which they operate, their staffing and the number of people who benefit from these services.

Part VI. Education and means of communication. Articles 21 to 26. Please indicate the number and kinds of schools, and the number of teachers serving the Berber population, the regions in which the schools operate and the number of pupils.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2015.]