Definitive Report - Report No 12, 1954

Case No 77 (France) - Complaint date: 01-OCT-53 - Closed

A. Analysis of the Complaints

1. 184. The complainants allege that the French authorities refused to deliver passports to trade union delegates duly elected and authorised by their organisations to attend the Third World Trade Union Congress held in Vienna from 10 to 21 October 1953. In particular, passports were refused to all the Tunisian delegates and to certain delegates from trade union organisations in Morocco, the Middle Congo, the Niger and the Ivory Coast. Several other delegates from African territories were also prevented from leaving their countries to attend the Congress. The complainants consider that this refusal constitutes a violation of trade union rights.

B. Analysis of the Reply

1. 185. In its reply the Government emphasises that the Third Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions could not be regarded as a meeting which was a normal consequence of the activities of the United Nations or of those of one of its specialised agencies. The delegates concerned were not intending to go to an I.L.O meeting but to an international congress which was not consulted by the I.L.O.
2. 186. The Government recalls that the World Federation of Trade Unions has had its authorisation to maintain its headquarters in France withdrawn because of the nature of its activities which are more political than trade union in character. The agenda of the Vienna Congress being of a similar nature, the Government itself exercised the discretionary powers which it has normally delegated to its Residents-General in Morocco and Tunisia and to its representatives in the Africa territories, and considers that it has not violated trade union freedoms and rights, inasmuch as the activities in question in the matter at issue were activities whose political character was obvious.
3. 187. With regard to the application of article 12, paragraph 3 of the I.L.O Constitution, the Government declares that it intends to comply fully with the undertakings into which it has entered with respect to international organisations, among which the World Federation of Trade Unions might be able to claim the title of a non-governmental organisation benefiting from consultative status A. These undertakings were recalled by representatives of the French Government during the discussions of the International Labour Conference in the course of which the French argument concerning the dissolution of the foreign association named the World Federation of Trade Unions in France was recognised as being well-founded.

C. Conclusions

1. 188. The complainants allege that the refusal of passports by the French authorities to certain trade union delegates duly elected and authorised by their organisations to attend the Third World Trade Union Congress constituted an infringement of the free exercise of trade union rights because this refusal, in fact, prevented the persons concerned from attending this international trade union meeting.
2. 189. The Government observes that the congress in question could not be regarded as a meeting which was a normal consequence of the activities of the United Nations or of those of one of its specialised agencies and that the delegates in question were not intending to go to an I.L.O meeting but to an international congress which was not consulted by the I.L.O.
3. 190. The Committee observes that the question at issue is not one of a restriction alleged to have been placed by the French authorities on the participation of trade union delegates in a meeting organised under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation.
4. 191. The Government then recalls that the World Federation of Trade Unions has had its authorisation to maintain its headquarters in France withdrawn because its activities have been of a political rather than a trade union nature, that the agenda of the Vienna Congress being of the same nature, the French authorities, making use of their discretionary powers, have not violated trade union freedoms and rights because the activities in question were activities whose political character was obvious, and that it intends to comply fully with the undertakings into which it has entered with respect to non-governmental international organisations enjoying consultative status, undertakings referred to by the representative of the French Government during the discussions of the International Labour Conference " in the course of which the French argument concerning the dissolution of the foreign association named the World Federation of Trade Unions in France was recognised as being well-founded ".
5. 192. The Committee recalls that, at its 34th Session in 1951, the International Labour Conference had before it a draft resolution declaring that the measure of the French Government by which it prohibited the activities of the World Federation of Trade Unions in France constituted a serious violation of the right to organise.
6. 193. On the report of its Resolutions Committee, the Conference approved, by 132 votes to 8, paragraph 7 of the report of this Committee, which was as follows:
7. 7. The authors of the proposed Resolution considered that the action of the French Government, by its measure of 26 January 1951, had prohibited the activities of the World Federation of Trade Unions in France, constituting a violation of trade union rights and freedom of association as defined in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, and an attack on the consultative status of the W.F.T.U with the United Nations. The French Government member replied that the action taken by the French Government related to the granting of legal personality in France, which was a discretionary power of the French Government under French law relating to the status of foreign agencies in France; that it in no way constituted an infringement of trade union rights or of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, since the French trade union organisations affiliated with the W.F.T.U retained full liberty of action in France, including the right to continue their affiliation with the W.F.T.U and their activities on its behalf; and that the French Government would undertake to place no restrictions on the representation of the W.F.T.U at meetings of the United Nations or specialised agencies held in France. The view was also expressed that in cases where there were any grounds for believing that an infringement of trade union rights had occurred the proper procedure was that such cases be dealt with under the procedure for the working of the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association. The Committee, by 5 votes to 28, decided not to recommend the proposed Resolution for adoption by the Conference.
8. 194. The question of the undeniable right which a government possesses to accord or refuse to accord to an international organisation the right to enjoy the advantages of legal personality is the country which it governs-a right which was in no way contested by the International Labour Conference in the text referred to above-is a question which is distinct from that arising in the present case, namely, the right which the trade union delegates should have to attend the congress of an international trade union federation to which the organisations they represent are affiliated.
9. 195. In this connection the International Labour Conference, when approving the report mentioned above, took note of a statement made by the representative of the French Government and contained in that report to the effect that French trade union organisations " affiliated with the W.F.T.U retained full liberty of action in France, including the right to continue their affiliation with the W.F.T.U. and their activities on its behalf ".
10. 196. The Committee recalls that on several occasions, and, in particular, in the case relating to Tunisia, it has expressed the opinion that the right of national workers' organisations to affiliate with international organisations of workers, a right laid down in Article 5 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), normally carries with it, in the case of representatives of national organisations, the right to maintain contact with the international workers' organisations to which their organisations are affiliated and to take part in their work, and that it is desirable that every latitude should be afforded to them for this purpose.
11. 197. The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), has been ratified by France with respect to its metropolitan territory, but the French Government has not, up to the present, forwarded to the Director-General a declaration as prescribed by article 35 of the I.L.O Constitution, concerning the application of the provisions of that Convention to the various territories mentioned in the complaints.
12. 198. While recognising that the French authorities in these territories may, in their decisions to refuse passports to certain nationals of these territories, have been guided not by a wish to place any direct restriction on trade union rights but by a wish to prevent such persons from entering into contact, on the occasion of an international congress, with the leaders of a movement which has been prohibited from maintaining its headquarters in France for having carried on activities which were more of a political nature than of a trade union nature, the Committee considers that it should emphasise once again that the right of national trade union organisations to send representatives to international trade union congresses is the natural corollary of the right of these national organisations to be affiliated to international workers' organisations.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 199. In view, however, of the fact that in the present case the measures complained against relate to participation in a congress whose meetings have now terminated, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that, subject to the observations contained in paragraphs 196 and 198, the case does not call for further examination.