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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Malawi (Ratification: 1999)

Article 2 of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee had referred to the need to amend section 18(4) of the Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2006 (LRA), which provides that if an organization fails to comply with the provisions of subsection (1) (which require an organization to annually submit audited financial statements, a list of the names and postal addresses of its officers, and its number of members) after being given a reasonable opportunity to do so, the Registrar may suspend and even cancel the registration and certificate of an organization. The Committee had recalled that measures of suspension or dissolution of trade union organizations by the administrative authority constitute serious infringements to the principles of freedom of association and should only occur in extremely serious cases and following a judicial decision. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the final version of the LRA is not yet ready and that the review process is expected to be revived in 2014. The Committee trusts that the Government will take into consideration the abovementioned principle with respect to measures of suspension or dissolution in order to amend section 18(4), (5) and (6) of the LRA in the framework of its review.