Definitive Report - Report No 194, June 1979

Case No 887 (Ethiopia) - Complaint date: 22-JUN-77 - Closed

1. 68. The complaint of the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) is contained in a communication dated 22 June 1977. Additional information was supplied by the WCOTP in a letter dated 22 August 1977. The Government forwarded its observations in a letter of 25 April 1978. At its meeting in May 1978, the Committee decided to transmit the substance of the observations made by the Government to the WCOTP for any comments it might wish to make, on the understanding that the Government would have the possibility of replying to these comments. The complainant's comments, dated 11 July 1978, were transmitted to the Government for its observations.
2. 69. Ethiopia has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 70. In its letter of 22 June 1977, the complainant alleged that Kassahun Bisrat, the secretary-general of the Teachers' Association of Ethiopia (TAE), had recently fled to Sudan after having been warned that his life, and that of several colleagues, was in imminent danger.
2. 71. In its letter of 22 August 1977, the WCOTP, referring to its previous complaint on behalf of the Teachers' Association of Ethiopia, alleged that in September 1975, the TAE had held its annual general meeting in Jimma, the capital city of Keffa Province, and passed resolutions concerning the teachers' participation in curriculum change and the establishment of democratic rights in the country plus other matters. Two weeks later, as the secretariat was duplicating the resolutions for distribution, over 100 armed soldiers accompanied by five armoured vehicles stormed the TAE compound and arrested all the executive members of the organisation and detained them for six months. They confiscated the organisation's duplicating machine, typewriters and important documents. As a result the TAE was closed for seven months. Branch leaders and teachers throughout Ethiopia were arrested for organising and carrying out teachers' trade union activities.
3. 72. It also alleged that since September 1975 the TAE had been deprived of rights of representation on educational bodies in which it had previously participated, that the elected representatives of teachers were dismissed from all educational activities and that teachers were ordered to teach in accordance with the specific guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Education which was carrying out political instructions.
4. 73. Furthermore, it alleged that after the release in March 1976 of the five executive members of the TAE and up to March 1977, the Association had repeatedly requested the Government for permission to call a general assembly but had been refused this permission. During this period, the leadership of the TAE estimated that 500 teachers were imprisoned and another 500 were dead or had disappeared. For example, says the complainant, in Assebe Tefferi, 42 teachers were arrested in February 1977, were imprisoned for two weeks and then they were killed.

B. The Government's reply

1. 74. In its letter of 25 April 1978, signed by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, the Government regrets that the WCOTP and the ILO should take into consideration false allegations made by individual anti-revolutionaries such as Kassahun Bisrat who have fled the country because the new order was unsuitable to them. According to the Government, Mr. Bisrat's lack of interest in the TAE is evidenced by the fact that, before leaving the country, he tried to submit his resignation to the Ministry of Education, where he was told that the proper body to which he should submit his resignation was the Association itself.
2. 75. According to the Government, the annual conference held in Jimma in September 1975 had no prior authorisation; some members of the Association surrounded the headquarters with their own men thus provoking the intervention of the police; seven members of the Association who imposed their wishes on the majority were detained but were released after six months. The so-called resolution passed by the conference did not concern teachers' participation in curriculum change but merely echoed anti-revolutionary slogans and demands which did not reflect the wishes of the majority of the members.
3. 76. As regards the allegation that the TAE was closed for seven months, the Government states that the Association was never officially closed and no newspaper clippings or official reports can attest to such an allegation. However, the fact that the elected officers (except the treasurer) had disappeared made it difficult to run the activities of the Association because the bank account was in their hands.
4. 77. The Government also states that teachers are not at all deprived of their rights of representation and that they do take part in the educational bodies (curriculum amendments, etc.). No rigid instruction regarding curriculum is given by the Ministry of Education.
5. 78. According to the Government, teachers in and around Addis Ababa are reorganised according to the wishes of the members and the re-establishment of the Association on a nation-wide basis is not far off. It states that freedom to organise and the right to form associations are guaranteed in the country now more than ever before. Moreover, it points out that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is entrusted with the task and responsibility of registering workers' organisations only and not professional associations and as such it was not to be asked for an explanation on matters outside its sphere of responsibility.
6. 79. Finally, the Government states that it was extremely surprised that the WCOTP and the ILO had taken the allegations of an individual counter-revolutionary into consideration and requested an explanation. In the Government's opinion, a member state should not be requested to provide information on allegations made by an individual who no more represents any association and has defied by his previous acts the resolve and determination of the Ethiopian people for peace, freedom, democracy and socialism.

C. The complainant's further comments

1. 80. In its letter of 11 July 1978, the WCOTP noted that the Government had placed a different interpretation on the developments than do the representatives of the teachers who were detained and ultimately fled the country. The complainant indicated that the Government was reconstituting the Teachers' Association. It added that, no doubt, the "de facto" situation would have to be respected as it developed. It felt, however, that the situation was tragic for the leaders who had been forced to leave the country and who had a legitimate complaint with regard to the treatment they had received or had been likely to receive. A copy of this communication was transmitted to the Government for any comments which it wished to make. At its meetings in November 1978 and February 1979, the Committee adjourned its examination of the case. No further communication has been received from the Government in this connection.

D. The conclusions of the Committee

1. 81. The Committee notes that the complaint has been presented by the World Confederation of Organisations of the Teaching Profession (WCOTP) on behalf of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association, which, according to the information available to the International Labour Office, was an affiliate of the complaining organisation. The allegations which had been submitted were transmitted to the Government for its observations, in so far as they raised questions concerning the exercise of trade union rights and since they had been presented by an international workers' organisation entitled to submit complaints in accordance with the procedure governing the work of the Committee. As the Committee indicated on another occasion a complaint thus transmitted was not a communication sent directly by the complaining organisation to the government concerned, but a communication received by the International Labour Organisation in accordance with the procedure established by the Governing Body of the ILO for the examination of allegations of infringements of trade union rights, which was communicated to the Government for its observations by the Director General of the ILO, as he was bound to do in accordance with that procedure. As the Committee also indicated on that occasion, in replying to a request for observations on a complaint, a government is not acknowledging the propriety, still less the validity, of the complaint, but is simply co-operating with the Committee and the Governing Body in making possible an impartial examination of the matter.
2. 82. Moreover, in a number of cases the Committee recalled that it had formulated certain principles in its First Report with respect to the examination of complaints to which the Government concerned ascribed a purely political character, and, in particular, decided that, even though cases may be political in origin or present political aspects, they should nevertheless be examined from the point of view of substance if they raise questions directly affecting the exercise of trade union rights.
3. 83. On the other hand, whether or not the TAE was considered as a "trade union" under national regulations, the guarantees of freedom of association, and particularly those provided for in Convention No. 87, ratified by Ethiopia, should be accorded to any organisation of workers established for furthering and defending the interests of workers, as defined in Article 10 of the Convention.
4. 84. It seems clear from the information contained in the complainant's communications and the Government's reply that the developments in September 1975 and thereafter affecting the Teachers' Association of Ethiopia had political aspects. In particular, the WCOTP alleged that the TAE annual conference passed resolutions concerning teachers' participation in curriculum change and the establishment of democratic rights in the country, whereas the Government states that the so-called resolution passed by the conference did not at all concern teachers' participation in curriculum change but merely echoed anti-revolutionary slogans and demands that did not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the majority of the members. Nevertheless, it seems that even if, as indicated below, no formal measures were taken to dissolve the organisation and close its headquarters, the organisation was unable, from September 1975 onwards, to carry out its trade union activities. In this respect, the Government's reply indicates that in 1978 the organisation had not yet resumed its activities on a nation-wide basis.
5. 85. The Committee wishes to emphasise, as it did in a previous case, the importance of distinguishing between the recognition of freedom of association and questions relating to a country's political evolution. Neither should there be confusion between trade unions' performance of their specific functions, i.e. the defence and promotion of the occupational interests of workers, and the possible pursuit by certain of their members of other activities having nothing to do with trade union functions. The penal responsibility which such persons may incur by such acts should in no way result in measures amounting to depriving the unions themselves or their leaders of their means of action.
6. 86. As regards the specific questions raised in this case, the Committee notes that the Government's reply does not refer to the allegation that 500 teachers were imprisoned and another 500 were dead or had disappeared. However, the Committee also notes that the information supplied by the complainant on this point provides no specific evidence which might establish a relationship between the alleged detentions and killings and the trade union activities of the teachers concerned. Thus the Committee cannot come to any definitive conclusions on the facts before it as regards this allegation.
7. 87. As regards the arrest and detention of the TAE executive officers, the Committee notes the Government's response that these persons were held for six months and are now free. The Government, however, does not indicate whether the detainees were formally accused of any offences or brought before the courts. In these circumstances, the Committee would point out as it has done in the paste that measures of preventive detention may involve a serious interference with trade union activities which it would seem necessary to justify by the existence of a serious situation or emergency and which would be open to criticism unless accompanied by adequate judicial safeguards applied within a reasonable period. Regarding Kassahun Bisrat, the secretary-general of the TAE, the Committee notes the discrepancy between the complainant's version of why he left the country and the Government's version.
8. 88. Regarding the allegation of closure of the TAE for seven months, the Committee notes the Government's response that there is no evidence of this measure having been taken and that any difficulties in running the organisation stemmed from the disappearance of certain officials who controlled the bank account. In this connection, the Committee is of the opinion that the arrest for six months of the executive officers of the Teachers' Association, apparently without specific charges, was a serious factor preventing the functioning of the organisation. As to the present situation, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, the teachers of Addis Ababa and environs are reorganised in the light of their wishes and that the nation-wide reestablishment of the Association is not far off. In these circumstances, the Committee wishes to stress the importance which it has always attached to the principles contained in Articles 2 and 3 of Convention No. 87, ratified by Ethiopia, according to which workers shall have the right to establish organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation and these organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitution and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes, without interference by the public authorities which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof. The Committee hopes that these principles will be observed in respect of the reestablishment of the TAE and would request the Government to keep the Committee informed of developments in this connection.
9. 89. As regards the allegation concerning the confiscation of the Teachers' Association property, to which the Government has not replied, the Committee wishes to recall that, in accordance with the Resolution concerning trade union rights and their relation to civil liberties, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 54th Session (Geneva, 1970), the right to protection of trade union property is one of the civil liberties which are essential to the exercise of trade union rights.
10. 90. The Committee notes the Government's statement that teachers have not been deprived of their rights of representation in the various types of consultative bodies referred to by the complainant and that such representation on many educational bodies is continuing. As a general remark, the Committee would point out that the real effectiveness of such consultative bodies can be ensured only if the principles of freedom of association are observed and, in particular, if workers and their organisations can elect their representatives in full freedom.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 91. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to note that after the 1975 annual conference of the Teachers' Association of Ethiopia seven of its executive officers were held in detention for six months and that, although no formal measure was taken by the authorities to close the Association, it eventually became unable to carry on its activities;
   • (b) to draw the Government's attention to the principles and considerations stated in paragraphs 87 to 90 above, and, in particular to the principles concerning the necessary judicial guarantees in case of detention of trade unionists and the right to protection of trade union property;
   • (c) to note the Government's statement that the teachers of Addis Ababa and environs are now reorganised and that a nation-wide re-establishment of the Teachers' Association would not be far off;
   • (d) in this latter connection, to underline the importance of the principles contained in Articles 2 and 3, in particular, of Convention No. 87, ratified by Ethiopia, according to which workers shall have the right to establish organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation and these organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes;
   • (e) to request the Government to keep the Committee informed of developments concerning the re-establishment of the Teachers' Association;
   • (f) to draw these conclusions to the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.