Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Sickness Insurance (Agriculture) Convention, 1927 (No. 25) - Haiti (Ratification: 1955)

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Repetition

The Committee notes that on 15 September 2015 the Confederation of Public and Private Sector Workers (CTSP) provided its observations concerning the application of the Conventions under examination. The CTSP indicates that coverage of employment injury is extremely weak in the context of an informal economy which represents 90 per cent of the national economy. The affiliation of employers to the Employment Injury, Sickness and Maternity Insurance Office (OFATMA), although a legal obligation, is a reality in practice for less than 5 per cent of workers. In the specific case of agricultural workers, the CTSP considers that it is necessary to take urgent measures to extend effective coverage by the OFATMA, as they represent the majority of workers in the country and produce 30 per cent of the gross domestic product, and yet they remain without any social protection.

The Committee is fully aware that the Government indicated in its last report that the Act of 28 August 1967, establishing the OFATMA, covers all dependent workers irrespective of their sector of activity, but that the absence of formal agricultural enterprises means that most agricultural workers are engaged in family subsistence agriculture and are excluded from the scope of the social security legislation. Nevertheless, the Committee observes that the application of the existing legislation appears to give rise to difficulties, even with regard to workers in the formal economy. Moreover, the sickness insurance scheme has never been established, even though the Government has indicated that it is pursuing its efforts to establish progressively a sickness insurance branch covering the whole of the population and to enable OFATMA to regain the trust of the population.

With a view to better assessing the challenges facing the country in the application of the social security Conventions and providing better support for the initiatives taken in this respect, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information in its next report concerning the functioning of the employment injury scheme administered by OFATMA (numbers covered, amount of contributions collected annually, number of employment accidents and occupational diseases recorded, amount of benefits paid for employment injury). Please include information on strategies for increasing participation in and utilization of OFATMA services by the eligible populations.

International assistance. The Committee notes that the Government is receiving substantial support from the ILO and the international community, particularly in the field of labour inspection. Moreover, since 2010, the ILO and the United Nations system as a whole have made available to the Government their expertise for the establishment of a social protection floor. The Committee considers that it is necessary for the Government to envisage as a priority the establishment of mechanisms to provide the population as a whole, including informal workers and their families, with access to essential health care and a minimum income when their earnings capacity is affected as a result of sickness, employment accident or occupational disease. In this regard, the International Labour Conference adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation (No. 202) in 2012, with a view to the establishment of basic social security guarantees to prevent and alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. In this connection, the implementation of Conventions and of Recommendation No. 202 should continue in parallel, seeking and exploiting synergies and complementarity.

The Committee recalls that the establishment of a social protection floor was included by the Haitian Government as one of the elements of the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti, adopted in March 2010. However, the Government has not yet provided any information on the measures adopted to achieve this objective. The Committee notes, among other matters, the conclusion in 2010 of a national programme for the promotion of decent work which includes an item dedicated to the establishment of the social protection system under the social security Conventions ratified by Haiti. Recalling that the Office’s technical assistance, coordinated with that of the United Nations system as a whole, has been made available to the Government, the Committee invites the Government to provide information on this subject in its next report.

The Committee expects that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.