Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

Article 2 of the Convention. Right to establish and join organizations. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that an amendment to the Law on State Security Institutions prohibits officials and employees of a State security institution from establishing trade unions and participating in their operation (section 18(6) of the Law on State Security Institutions). In this respect, the Committee recalls that, under Article 9(1) of the Convention, the only authorized exceptions from the scope of application of the Convention concern members of the police and the armed forces. These exceptions are justified on the basis of the responsibility of these two categories of workers for the external and internal security of the State. In the view of the Committee, these exceptions must however be construed in a restrictive manner. For example, they do not include civilian personnel in the armed forces or civilian employees in the intelligence services, nor do they automatically apply, in the view of the Committee, to all employees who may carry a weapon in the course of their duties, who cannot a priori be excluded from the scope of the Convention (see the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 67). In this respect, the Committee observes that the Law on State Security Institutions applies to officials and employees of a variety of State institutions carrying out intelligence and counterintelligence activities. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information in light of the above, and to take any measures that may be necessary to ensure that this exclusion from the right to establish trade unions and participate in their operation is only applicable to members of the police and the armed forces.