Interim Report - Report No 177, June 1978

Case No 840 (Sudan) - Complaint date: 12-MAR-76 - Closed

1. 220. The Committee previously considered the present case at its November 1976 session, when it submitted to the Governing Body an interim report which is reproduced in paragraphs 326-332 of its 160th Report.
2. 221. The Sudan has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), it has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 222. The complainants had alleged that infringements of trade union rights had been perpetrated by the Sudanese Government against the Federation of Textile Workers of the Sudan. In particular, it was alleged that Gassim Amin, a member of the Executive Committee of the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers and its former Secretary, had been in prison since August 1974 without having been informed of the charges brought against him.
2. 223. In its reply, the Government had requested that information be supplied as to the name of the Sudanese trade union of which Mr. Gassim Amin was a member or with whose activities he had been associated, and as to the trade union activities for which he had been detained. The Government said that investigations had been carried out to obtain further information from the Sudan Workers' Trade Union Federation and the Central Union of Textile Workers of the Sudan. The Federation had indicated, with the agreement of the Central Union of Textile Workers of the Sudan, that in 1952 the Railway Workers' Union had employed him as a full-time official but that he was later removed from office because of his activities in the Communist Party. He had then gone to Europe where he had worked with organisations linked to the WFTU. Still according to the Sudan Workers' Trade Union Federation, Mr. Gassim Amin had returned to the Sudan in October for not more than one month and had not since returned. According to the Federation, it was clear that Mr. Amin had had no connection with the trade union movement in the Sudan since the above date and that his imprisonment was not connected with the trade union movement.
3. 224. At its November 1976 session, the Committee noted that it had not received any precise information about the situation of Mr. Gassim Amin and that the Government itself, without denying that this person had been imprisoned since August 1974, had made inquiries about him from national trade union organisations. These organisations were not organisations to which Mr. Gassim Amin was stated by the complainants to have been a member. The information supplied by these organisations was also contradictory, since, although referring to the imprisonment of Mr. Gassim Amin, it indicated that he had left the Sudan at one point and had never returned to the country.
4. 225. In these circumstances the Governing Body, on the recommendation of the Committee, requested the Government to obtain and supply full and precise information concerning the situation of Mr. Gassim Amin and, in the event of his being detained, to state the nature of any charges brought against him and what arrangements, if any, had been made to bring him to trial. The Governing Body also requested the complainants to supply their comments on the reply of the Government as well as precise information concerning Mr. Gassim and his present situation.
5. 226. In a communication of 24 January 1977, the Government stated that it was unable to make any further comments, since it had not received information as regards the name of the Sudanese trade union of which Mr. Gassim Amin was a member or on the trade union activities for which he was allegedly detained.
6. 227. In a communication of 30 March 1977, the WFTU stated that as far back as 1947 Mr. Gassim Amin had been one of the founders of the Sudanese trade union movement. He had been imprisoned several times as a result of his efforts to establish general trade union organisations in the Sudan. After the overthrow of the military regime in 1964 and the restoration of the trade union organisations, Mr. Gassim Amin had been designated to work in the WFTU and later on in the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers. In August 1974, continued the WFTU, he had been sent to the Sudan on mission and on his arrival at the airport he was arrested and taken to Khartoum-North Prison. Subsequently, he was transferred to Al Obaied in the western part of the country together with other detainees, and was still detained there. No charges had been made against Mr. Amin; he was detained under the State Security Act which gives the police the power to detain any person for an unlimited period.
7. 228. In a communication of 1 November 1977 the Government stated that it was encountering difficulties in pursuing the matter further in the absence of replies to its questions concerning the specific trade union membership of Mr. Gassim Amin and, further, the specific trade union mission on which he was engaged at the time of his arrest.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 229. In the present case, the Committee is called upon to examine a specific allegation according to which Mr. Gassim Amin, a member of the Executive Committee of the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers was arrested in August 1974 while on a mission to the Sudan. According to available information Mr. Gassim Amin is alleged to have held office in the Sudanese trade union movement in the past. Subsequently he carried on trade union activities within the World Federation of Trade Unions and the Trade Unions International of Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers. It was as an official of the latter organisation that he had been sent on mission to the Sudan.
2. 230. In cases involving the arrest, detention or sentencing of trade union officials, whether their responsibilities are at the national or international level, the Committee has taken the view that the persons concerned should benefit from presumption of innocence and that it is incumbent upon the Government to show that the measures it has taken are in no way occasioned by their trade union activities. If, in certain instances, the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to measures taken against trade unionists do not call for further examination, this is only after it has received information from the Government showing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient details that the measures are in no way occasioned by trade union activities, but solely by activities outside the trade union sphere which are either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature.
3. 231. The Committee has also emphasised the importance it has attached to the principle of prompt trial by an independent and impartial judiciary in all cases, including cases in which trade unionists are charged with political or criminal offences which the Government considers have no relation to their trade union functions.
4. 232. In the present case the Committee feels that, in the light of the additional information transmitted by the complainants and taking account of the principles set forth above, it should be possible for the Government to communicate information on the present situation of Mr. Gassim Amin and any charges which may have been brought against him.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 233. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the attention of the Government to the principles and considerations set forth in paragraphs 230-232 above regarding the arrest and detention of trade unionists;
   • (b) to reiterate its request to the Government to supply full and precise information on the present situation of Mr. Gassim Amin and on any charges which may have been brought against him and any measures which may have been taken to bring him to trial;
   • (c) to take note of the present interim report.