Observation on submission to competent authorities (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Iraq

Failure to submit. The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government has once again provided no response to its previous comments. It recalls once more that the constitutional obligation of submission is of the highest importance and is a fundamental element of the standards system of the ILO. It therefore once again recalls the detailed information provided by the Government in November 2017, including the dates of submission to the Council of Representatives (Majlis Al-Nuwaab) of each of the instruments adopted by the Conference at its 88th, 90th, 92nd, 95th, 96th, 99th, 100th and 101st Sessions (2000–12). The Committee further recalls the Government’s indication that Recommendations submitted to the Council of Representatives were not examined by the Council, but were transmitted to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs which, according to the Government’s indication, is the competent authority with respect to Recommendations. The Committee further recalls the information provided by the Government in March 2017, indicating that the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, was submitted to the competent authority. It noted in this regard that no information was provided on the date of submission, or on whether the instrument in question was in fact submitted to the Council of Representatives (Majlis Al-Nuwaab).

Against this backdrop, the Committee once again recalls that when a State decides to become a Member of the Organization it accepts to fulfil the obligations established in the Constitution, such as the obligation to submit to the competent authorities the instruments adopted at the Conference. It emphasizes, however, that the obligation of ILO Member States to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference to the competent authorities does not imply any obligation to propose the ratification or application of the instruments in question, or to take any other specific action. Pursuant to article 19 of the ILO Constitution, Member States have complete freedom as to the nature of the proposals to be made, if any, when submitting the instruments. Submission does not imply any obligation to propose the ratification of a Convention or Protocol, nor does it imply the application of one or more of the principles set out in an unratified Convention or a Recommendation. In this respect, the Committee once again draws the attention of the Government to the 2005 Memorandum concerning the obligation to submit Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authorities, adopted by the Governing Body in 2005, particularly Part I on the aims and objectives of submission.

The Committee understands that, in Iraq, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is considered to be the competent authority in relation to the submission of Recommendations. The Committee nevertheless recalls once more that, for the purposes of article 19 of the ILO Constitution, discussion in a deliberative assembly – or at a minimum provision to a deliberative assembly of information concerning all of the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference, regardless of whether these are Conventions, Protocols or Recommendations – is an essential component of the constitutional obligation to submit, as indicated in the 2005 Memorandum (2005 Memorandum, Part I(c) and Part II(c)). This obligation is applicable even in cases where legislative power is vested in the executive, as in this case the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, by virtue of the Constitution of the Member State. The obligation to submit is twofold: (1) to encourage ratification or application of instruments adopted by the Conference through submission to the competent authority empowered to consider ratification; and (2) to bring the instruments adopted by the Conference to the knowledge of the public through their submission to a parliamentary or deliberative body. Given the importance of the latter objective, the Committee has noted that, even in the absence of a parliamentary body, informing a consultative body makes it possible to carry out a full examination of the instruments, ensuring that they are widely disseminated among the public, which is one of the purposes of the obligation of submission (2005 Memorandum, Part II(d)).

The Committee therefore once again expresses the hope that the Government will take urgent measures to further examine this matter in order to ensure full compliance with this twofold obligation to submit, established in article 19 of the ILO Constitution, and that it will soon be in a position to provide more specific information on the submission to the Council of Representatives of the remaining 12 instruments adopted by the Conference from 2000 to 2015. The Committee also once again reiterates its request for the Government to provide information on the submission to the Council of Representatives of the Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation, 2017 (No. 205), adopted by the Conference at its 106th Session, and the Violence and Harassment Convention (No. 190) and Recommendation (No. 206), 2019, adopted by the Conference at its 108th Session (June 2019). It reminds the Government of the availability of ILO technical assistance to meet its constitutional obligation of submission.