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

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

The Committee recalls that for a number of years, it has been commenting on the Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill 2006 (LRA Bill) and that its previous comments referred to the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. The right of organizations to freely organize their activities and formulate their programmes. In previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to provide information on any development concerning the establishment and composition of the subcommittee of the Tripartite Labour Advisory Council and the advancement of its work on the review of the final version of the LRA Bill, notably with regard to the establishment of the list of essential services. The Committee expected that the list of essential services would be limited to those services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole, or part, of the population, and that adequate protection will be afforded to the affected workers to compensate for the restrictions imposed on their freedom of action.

Article 4. Dissolution or suspension of organizations by administrative authority. The Committee had previously referred to the need to amend section 18(4) of the LRA Bill 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 also observed that section 18(4) and (5) provides that the Registrar may suspend and even cancel the registration and certificate of an organization which fails to comply with the requirements of section 18(1) and had noted, in this connection, that section 18(6) of the LRA Bill provides that an organization may appeal against a decision of the Registrar to suspend or cancel its registration and certificate of registration. The Committee had requested the Government to indicate: (i) whether an organization’s appeal has the effect of suspending the administrative decision, pending the issuance of a final decision by the judiciary; and (ii) whether the judiciary, upon hearing an appeal, is able to deal with the substance of the case and to decide whether or not the provisions, pursuant to which the administrative measures in question were taken, constitute a violation of the rights guaranteed by the Convention. The Committee had considered that in the event that either of these judicial safeguards against dissolution is not provided for, the Government should take the necessary measures to amend section 18(4), (5) and (6) of the LRA Bill so that measures of dissolution of trade union organizations only occur in extremely serious cases and following a judicial decision.

The Committee notes with regret that in its very brief report, the Government once again indicates that the LRA Bill is yet to be amended. The Committee therefore reiterates its previous request and expects that the Government will take the necessary measures to ensure that the LRA Bill, as amended, is in conformity with the Convention, and asks the Government to transmit a final version thereof.