Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Belize (Ratification: 2000)

Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations. The Government indicates that the tripartite Labour Advisory Board (LAB) was reactivated in February 2017 and is charged with reviewing all work carried out by the previous LAB, with the aim of submitting recommendations to the Minister of Labour and to the Attorney General’s office. The Government adds that the LAB’s terms of reference include but are not limited to the review of ILO questionnaires, re-examination of unratified instruments and reports on ratified and unratified instruments. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the activities of the reactivated Labour Advisory Board on matters regarding international labour standards covered by the Convention, as well as on matters relating to ILO activities covered by the Tripartite Consultations Recommendation, 1976 (No. 152). In this context, it requests the Government to communicate updated information on the content and outcome of tripartite consultations held concerning each of the matters related to international labour standards covered by Article 5(1)(a)–(e) of the Convention, including information on any recommendations made by the LAB in the framework of these consultations. The Government is also requested to provide a copy of the LAB’s annual report as soon as it becomes available (Article 6).

Article 5(1)(a) and (b). Submission to the National Assembly. The Government indicates that the responsibilities of the LAB include the review of ILO questionnaires. In this regard, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the comments it has been making since 2006 concerning its obligation to submit instruments adopted by the Conference to the National Assembly. As the Committee recalled in its 2000 General Survey, Tripartite Consultations, paragraph 85, the Convention requires governments to consult the representative organizations of employers and workers before finalizing proposals to be submitted to the National Assembly concerning the instruments adopted by the Conference. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide information on the content and outcome of consultations held with the social partners relative to proposals made to the National Assembly in connection with the submission of the instruments adopted by the Conference.

Article 5(1)(c). Examination of unratified Conventions and Recommendations. The Government reports that the principal responsibilities of the LAB include the re-examination of unratified conventions and recommendations for purposes of transmitting its proposals to the Minister of Labour for submission to the National Assembly. In this respect, the Committee notes that the Government has ratified the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 on 8 July 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on tripartite consultations held concerning the re-examination of unratified Conventions, particularly the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129), which are deemed governance Conventions.