Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Social Policy (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 82) - Tokelau

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report received in October 2013 in reply to the 2008 direct request. The Government recalls that, following two self-determination referenda in 2006 and in 2007 where the Tokelau voters signalled that the timing and conditions were not yet right for constitutional change, the leaders of Tokelau and New Zealand decided that there should be an appreciable period of time before Tokelau would undertake any further act of self-determination. It adds that, following such decision, the focus of the relationship between New Zealand and Tokelau since 2008 has been addressing the core requirements of the three atoll populations. Moreover, the Government specifies that the provision of economic support for Tokelau’s economic and social development was agreed in the Joint Statement on the Principles of Partnership between Tokelau and New Zealand signed in 2003, and reaffirmed in the Joint Commitment for Development in 2011. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the progress made in pursuing the social and economic policies covered by the provisions of the Convention applicable to Tokelau.

In its previous comments, the Committee invited the Government to state what modifications to the provisions of the Convention continued to be necessary, and to supply available information on the local conditions which necessitated the retention of the said modifications, as required by Article 23 of the Convention. The Government indicates that, due to the absence of trade unions and of relevant legislation governing such areas, Article 14(1) of the Convention continues to be inapplicable in Tokelau. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that all other parts and articles under Convention No. 82 apply in Tokelau. The Committee recalls that, in the declaration of 18 February 1954, appended to its ratification, the Government of New Zealand undertook that the provisions of Convention No. 82 would be applied to the Tokelau Islands, subject to the following modifications: that the provisions of Part V of the Convention (Articles 14–17 inclusive, concerning remuneration of workers and related questions) and of paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 19 of the Convention (concerning child labour, school-leaving age and minimum age for admission to employment) would not be applied to the Tokelau Islands (ILO, Official Bulletin, 31 December 1954, Vol. XXXVII, No. 7, page 377). In that regard, the Committee recalls that pursuant to Article 22(3) the Government may at any time renounce in whole or in part the right to have recourse to any modification indicated in a declaration by a subsequent one; such decision, in accordance with article 35, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the ILO Constitution, would have to take the form of a formal declaration communicated to the Director-General of International Labour Office. The Committee therefore invites the Government to consider possible action in accordance with Article 22(3) of the Convention and article 35, paragraph 3 of the ILO Constitution.