Interim Report - Report No 85, 1966

Case No 419 (Congo) - Complaint date: 07-NOV-64 - Closed

1. 504. This case has already come before the Committee at its 39th and 40th Sessions, held respectively in February and in May 1965. On both occasions the Committee submitted interim reports to the Governing Body, which adopted them at its 161st Session (March 1965) and at its 162nd Session (May 1965). The first of these reports is to be found in paragraphs 176 to 193 of the Committee's 81st Report, and the second in paragraphs 360 to 374 of its 83rd Report.

505. The case originally involved two sets of allegations, one concerned with action taken against the National Union of C.A.T.C. Unions and its leaders, and the other relating to the arrest and ill-treatment of two trade unionists from Malawi.

1. 506. As regards the second set of allegations, the Committee has submitted its final conclusions to the Governing Body, which has approved them. No reference will therefore be made to them in the paragraphs which follow, which will deal exclusively with the set of allegations which remains outstanding.
2. 507. This aspect of the case, the detailed background to and analysis of which may be found in the Committee's 81st Report a is essentially concerned with discriminatory action taken against the National Union of C.A.T.C. Unions, the ransacking of its premises and the arrest of its leaders, including its President, Mr. Fulgence Biyaoula, who is alleged to have been tortured as well.
3. 508. At its 39th Session in February 1965 the Committee began by noting the assurances given in Addis Ababa to the Director General by the Minister of Labour of the Congo (Brazzaville) to the effect that Mr. Biyaoula was not being subjected to torture, that his life was not in danger at all and that he would enjoy the guarantees of normal judicial procedure when he appeared in the near future before the courts. The Committee noted also that in its reply to the allegations in question the Government confined itself to declaring that "the Committee on Freedom of Association might designate one or more of its members to visit the Congo (Brazzaville) at the I.L.O's expense to inquire on the spot into the allegations made by the critics of [this] country's Government", and took the view that at that stage it should once more urge the Government to be good enough to furnish detailed observations on each of the specific allegations made by the various complaining organisations. In these circumstances it recommended the Governing Body in paragraph 193 of its 81st Report:
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5. (a) to reaffirm strongly the importance it attaches to the principles:
6. (i) that workers should have the right to establish and join organisations of their own choosing;
7. (ii) that workers' organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom, and that such representatives should be protected against any action being taken against them by reason of their trade union activities;
8. (iii) that trade unions should not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority;
9. (b) to emphasise that measures of detention of trade unionists may involve a serious interference with the exercise of trade union rights if they are not accompanied by adequate judicial safeguards and to stress that it should be the policy of every government to take care to ensure the observance of human rights and especially of the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment by an impartial and independent judicial authority;
10. (c) to request the Government to be good enough to furnish detailed observations on the allegations referred to in paragraphs 187 and 188 of this report and information as to whether the assurances given to the Director-General by the Minister of Labour in the course of their interviews in Addis Ababa, referred to in paragraph 180 of this report, have been respected and, in particular, as to whether Mr. Biyaoula has received a fair trial attended by all the guarantees of normal judicial procedure and, if so, to be good enough to furnish a copy of the judgment and of the reasons adduced therein.
11. 509. The foregoing conclusions were conveyed to the Government by letter dated 10 March 1965, followed by a reminder letter dated 5 April 1965. The Government replied in a communication dated 29 April 1965, which was brought to the notice of the Committee at its 40th Session in May 1965.
12. 510. On that occasion the Committee observed that in the communication in question the Government failed to answer the specific questions asked in subparagraph (c) of paragraph 193 of the Committee's 81st Report, quoted above, but confined itself to renewing the invitation to the Committee to visit the Congo to which reference is made in paragraph 508 above.
13. 511. In these circumstances the Committee felt that it must reaffirm the conclusions set forth in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 193 of its 81st Report, and recommend the Governing Body to urge the Government strongly to be good enough to furnish the observations requested of it in subparagraph (c) of the same paragraph as soon as possible. This recommendation was approved by the Governing Body.
14. 512. Furthermore, the Committee, and subsequently the Governing Body, drew the Government's attention to the resolution concerning freedom of association and protection of the right to organise adopted by the First African Regional Conference of the International Labour Organisation (Lagos, December 1960), which, in paragraph 7, " Requests the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to invite governments in respect of whose countries complaints may be made to the Governing Body Committee on Freedom of Association to give their wholehearted co-operation to that Committee, in particular by replying to requests for observations made to them and by taking the fullest possible account of any recommendations which may be made to them by the Governing Body following examination of such complaints", and, in paragraph 8, "Requests the Governing Body to accelerate as far a possible the procedure of its Committee on Freedom of Association and to give greater publicity to the conclusions of that Committee, particularly when certain governments refuse to co-operate loyally in the consideration of complaints submitted against them".

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 513. The conclusions referred to in the two preceding paragraphs were brought to the notice of the Government by letter dated 8 June 1965, to which no reply has been received to date, despite a reminder letter sent on 17 September 1965.
2. 514. Furthermore, on 6 July 1965 the Director-General received a telegraphic communication signed by the President and the General Secretary of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions informing him that the trade unionists imprisoned in Brazzaville were due at any moment to be arraigned before a people's court, and begging his " energetic and urgent " intervention. Following the receipt of this communication the Director-General, on 8 July 1965, cabled its contents to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Congo (Brazzaville), urging that the matter be given special attention and that the Director-General be kept informed of developments. This communication from the Director-General has likewise remained unanswered.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 515. In the circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the attention of the Government once again to the request made by the First African Regional Conference of the International Labour Organisation (Lagos, December 1960) that governments in respect of whose countries complaints may be made should be invited to give their wholehearted co-operation to the Committee, in particular by replying to requests for observations made to them and by taking the fullest possible account of any recommendations which may be made to them by the Governing Body following examination of such complaints;
   • (b) to draw the attention of the Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) to the importance which the Governing Body has always attached to the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment;
   • (c) to express its grave concern at the failure of the Government of the Congo (Brazzaville) to reply to the communication of the Director-General dated 8 July 1965 relating to trade unionists imprisoned in Brazzaville who were alleged to be due to be arraigned at any moment before a people's court;
   • (d) to request the Government to state whether Mr. Biyaoula, President of the National Union of C.A.T.C. Unions, has received a fair trial attended by all the guarantees of normal judicial procedure and, if so, to furnish a copy of the judgment and of the reasons adduced therein;
   • (e) to confirm the conclusions which it reached when the case was first examined and which are contained in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 193 of the 81st Report of the Committee cited in paragraph 508 above;
   • (f) to request the Government once again to furnish detailed observations on the allegations relating to measures taken against the National Union of C.A.T.C. Unions referred to in paragraphs 187 and 188 of the 81st Report of the Committee.