Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Eritrea (Ratification: 2000)

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Civil liberties. The Committee notes that in reply to its repeated past requests to provide information on how the right of trade unions to hold public meetings and demonstrations is secured in law and in practice, the Government indicates that fundamental human rights, including freedom of assembly and freedom of opinion and expression, are secured under the 1994 National Charter of Eritrea. It adds that trade unionists were able to hold meetings freely on their own premises for the discussion of trade union matters without prior authorization or interference by public authorities. To hold public meetings, organizations must observe the general rules applicable to such gatherings. The Government indicates that the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers (NCEW) has annually conducted May Day processions or demonstrations in support of social and economic demands. The NCEW also attended every meeting of regional African trade unions and international confederations to which they are affiliated. The Government further adds that where trade unionists are arrested or charged for breaching public order, they are entitled to refer the case to the judiciary, with all guarantees of due process of law. Penal procedure guarantees are set out in the Transitional Penal Code of Eritrea and applied in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information concerning the rules that generally apply to public meetings and demonstrations and preservation of public order, and to provide copies of any laws or regulations governing this matter. The Committee further requests the Government to indicate whether organizations other than the NCEW have been able to hold public demonstrations and meetings, including examples as to the dates and approximate size of such demonstrations and meetings, and to provide information concerning the number of trade unionists arrested or charged for breaching the public order, and the sentences imposed in their cases.

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations. Compulsory national service. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that large numbers of Eritrean nationals were denied the right to organize for indefinite periods of their active lives while they were forced to perform work as part of their compulsory national service and recalled that the exception in Article 9(1) of the Convention is justified on the basis of the responsibility of the police, security and armed forces for the external and internal security of the State and must be construed in a restrictive manner, so as to apply only to purely military and policing functions and not to the whole active population mobilized for work in non-military areas as diverse as agriculture, construction, civil administration and education for indefinite periods of time under martial law that denies them the right to organize. The Committee urged the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that Eritrean nationals are not denied the right to organize beyond the period of military service, during which they would perform work only of a purely military character. The Government indicates in this regard that the national service is limited to 18 months and large-scale demobilization has taken place by assigning national servicepersons under civil services or other public sector jobs to carry out civilian functions with adequate salary. According to the Government, after the 18 month-service, servicepersons are no longer conscripts but are civil servants and have the right to organize. The Committee notes however, that the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea of 9 May 2023 indicates that: (i) the policy of national service includes a civil service component and compulsory military service component; (ii) no progress has been made towards reforming national service, ensuring that the legal limits for its duration are respected or protecting the rights of citizens serving in the programme; (iii) the Special Rapporteur identified an upsurge in forced recruitment between mid- and late 2022, when in several regions, reservists over 50 years of age, and according to reports up to 70 years old, were called upon to serve in Tigray and in the border areas with Ethiopia (A/HRC/53/20, paragraphs 27, 30, 34). The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government does not indicate any measures taken to review the Proclamation on National Service (No. 82 of 1995) which allows the use of servicepersons in development work; that the national service continues to have a “civil service” component and that the practice of forced conscription for indefinite periods continued and even intensified during the reporting period. In view of the foregoing, the Committee once again urges the Government to take all the necessary measures to guarantee that the imposition of national service does not deny Eritrean nationals their right to organize beyond the legal period of service during which they would perform only work of a military nature, through: (i) reviewing the National Service Proclamation with a view to ensuring that servicepersons are not forced to do development or other non-military work as part of their national service, while they are subject to martial law and denied the right to organize; (ii) ensuring that legal limits for the duration of national service are respected in practice and putting an end to forced conscription for indefinite periods. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken in this respect.

Civil servants. In its previous comments the Committee noted that Eritrean law does not guarantee the right of civil servants to organize, as they were excluded from the scope of the Labour Proclamation while the declared process of adoption of a special law governing their status was not progressing. The Committee notes that the Government reiterates its previous indications in this regard, that the freedom of association of civil servants is fully guaranteed as they can form professional associations under sections 404 and 406 of the Civil Code and adds that the drafting process of the civil servants’ code is still in the final stage of approval. The Committee recalls that in its previous comment it noted that Civil Code “professional associations” did not enjoy the same capacity as labour law associations in terms of representation of the occupational interests of their members. Furthermore, these associations cannot form or join trade union federations and confederations, and are susceptible to dissolution by the administrative authority where their “object or activities are unlawful or contrary to morality” (section 415 of the 2015 Civil Code). The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that demobilized conscripts are assigned to civil service and other public service jobs where they enjoy the right to organize, specifying that workers of public or semi-public enterprises are covered under the Labour Proclamation, while civil servants can form associations under the Civil Code. In view of the foregoing, the Committee notes that demobilized conscripts assigned to civil service will not fully enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Convention. Noting with regret the lack of progress on this matter, the Committee urges the Government to take adequate normative and practical measures to ensure, that pending the process of adoption of the civil service code, public servants can fully and without further delay enjoy the rights guaranteed in the Convention and establish organizations with full capacity of representing and defending their occupational interests. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken in this respect.

Domestic workers. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that section 40 of the Labour Proclamation, which provides that the Minister may determine by regulation the provisions of the proclamation that shall apply to all or a category of domestic employees, casts doubt on the application of freedom of association guarantees to this group of workers. The Committee therefore requested the Government to either abrogate section 40 or rapidly adopt the regulation referred to therein. The Government indicates that it has no intention of abrogating section 40 but has committed to adopting the regulation concerning domestic employees, and adds that domestic workers are covered by general standards of the Civil Code and are entitled to the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Labour Proclamation. Recalling that domestic workers and their organizations should be guaranteed the full range of the rights enshrined in the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide information concerning: (i) any organization representing domestic employees in Eritrea and, (ii) any progress in the adoption of the section 40 regulation concerning domestic workers.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.