Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Cameroon (Ratification: 2018)

The Committee notes the observations of the General Union of Workers of Cameroon (UGTC), received on 16 September 2021. The Government is requested to provide its comments in this regard.

Article 2 of the Convention. Consultation procedures. The Committee welcomes the Government’s first report on the application of the Convention. The Government indicates that, in practice, employers’ and workers’ organizations are consulted on certain labour-related matters through workshops, meetings, working sessions and through the International Labour Office. The Government also indicates that, under the current situation in law and practice, tripartite consultation procedures are regulated by the Labour Code and some of its implementing texts. These procedures are applied through the National Labour Advisory Commission, the National Occupational Safety and Health Commission and the Consultation and Social Dialogue Follow-up Committee. However, the Government adds that, since the ratification of the Convention in 2018, no measures have been adopted for the establishment of tripartite consultation procedures. The Government further indicates that laws and regulations are under preparation to ensure the application of the Convention and its dissemination so that the social partners can be consulted on all subjects. In this context, the Committee wishes to recall that, while effective tripartite consultations on international labour standards facilitate tripartite cooperation at the national level, the objective of the Convention is to promote effective tripartite consultations on the matters relating to international labour standards set out in Article 5(1) of the Convention. The Committee notes the creation of the Committee for the Evaluation and Follow-up of the Application of the ILO Conventions ratified by Cameroon (CESAC) (Order No. 000058/MINTSS of 27 February 2018). The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on the progress achieved in relation to the establishment and operation of procedures to ensure the effective tripartite consultations required by the Convention, and particularly on the implementation of Order No. 000058/MINTSS of 27 February 2018 and the commencement of the work of the tripartite Committee for the Evaluation and Follow-up of the Application of ILO Conventions (CESAC).

Article 5. Effective tripartite consultations. The Government indicates that the CESAC, set up in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, meets once a year. It is responsible for gathering and producing full information on the application of Conventions subject to reporting and to providing appropriate replies to the ILO supervisory bodies. In this regard, the UGTC observes that, despite the creation of the CESAC, it is doing no work on the evaluation and follow-up of ratified Conventions. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether the Committee for the Evaluation and Follow-up of the Application of ILO Conventions (CESAC) has held tripartite consultation meetings since its creation, and to provide information on the frequency, content and outcome of these meetings or, if not, to provide information on any measures adopted or envisaged to ensure the commencement of operations by the CESAC and to indicate the progress achieved in the holding of effective tripartite consultations on all the matters covered by Article 5(1) of the Convention during the next reporting period.

Article 4. Administrative support and training. The Committee notes that sections 5 and 9 of Order No. 000058/MINTSS of 27 February 2018 contain provisions on the financing and administrative support of the CESAC. However, the Government indicates that the administrative support for the procedures covered by this Article has not yet been designed. It adds that no arrangements have yet been adopted at the national level for the financing of training for the consultation procedures. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the implementation of sections 5 and 9 of Order No. 000058/MINTSS of 27 February 2018 in relation to administrative support for the consultation procedures envisaged by the Convention (Article 4(1)). It also requests the Government to provide detailed information on the appropriate measures adopted for the financing of any necessary training of participants in the consultations (Article 4(2)).

Article 6. Working of the consultation procedures. The Committee notes the observations of the UGTC indicating that the provisions of this Article are not given effect in Cameroon. The UGTC also observes that the CESAC lacks financial resources for the promotion of Conventions and Recommendations and adds that the implementation of the provisions of Article 6 of the Convention could reduce certain violations resulting from a lack of knowledge of these instruments. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether measures have been adopted, including financial measures, to ensure that the meetings of the CESAC give rise to an annual report on the working of the procedures envisaged by the Convention. If no such measures have been adopted, it requests the Government to provide information on the consultations held on this subject with the representative organizations.