Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11) - Pakistan (Ratification: 1923)

In its previous comment, the Committee had trusted that the Government will ensure that it, as well as all the governments of the provinces, take the necessary measures to ensure that all workers engaged in agriculture, including in small agricultural holdings which do not run an establishment or farmers working on their own or with their family, enjoy the rights afforded by the Convention in law and in practice. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) the share of agriculture in the employed labour force in Pakistan (67.24 million) amounts to 37.4 per cent; (ii) all federal and provincial Industrial Relations Acts are applicable only to formal sector workers; (iii) the Industrial Relations Act 2012 (hereafter IRA 2012) – which covers all persons employed in any establishment or industry in the Islamabad Capital Territory or carrying on business in more than one province – does not cover the agricultural workers in its ambit, however there is no restriction on agricultural workers to form a union; (iv) Sindh Industrial Relations Act, 2013 (hereafter SIRA 2013) provides expressly in its section 1(3) that the scope of the Act extends to all persons employed in any establishment or industry, “including fishing and agriculture”, and Balochistan Industrial Relations Act, 2022 (hereafter BIRA 2022) provides in its section 1(4) that the Act shall apply to all workers and employers at all workplaces working or conducting business within Balcohistan; (v) till date, the Government of Sindh has registered four unions of agriculture workers and two associations of landlords of agriculture farms; (vi) workers engaged in agriculture holdings which do not run an establishment or farmers working on their own or with family are out of the ambit of industrial relation laws. However, there is no restriction on agriculture workers to form a union. Further, they are allowed to form a cooperative society for promotion of their economic interests in accordance with co-operative principles, or a society established with the object of facilitating the operations of such a society and; (vii) the provinces are actively amending/promulgating the law relating to the right of association and extending its application to informal sector including the agriculture.

The Committee notes that even though IRA 2012; Punjab Industrial Relations Act, 2010 (hereafter PIRA 2010); and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Industrial Relations Act, 2010 (hereafter KPIRA 2010) provide in their section 1(3) that they apply to “all persons employed in any establishment or industry” in the covered territory, and even though agriculture does not figure among the activities explicitly excluded from the scope of these Acts, they do not appear to cover agricultural establishments. In this regard, the Committee notes that Punjab Labour Policy 2018 advocates “initiation of dialogue with social partners to extend coverage and scope of the PIRA to the excluded categories of workers i.e., agriculture workers, domestic workers, home based workers and workers of informal sector”. It further notes that although SIRA 2013 and BIRA 2022 cover agricultural establishments, they leave out the informal sector, including small agricultural holdings which do not run an establishment, or farmers working on their own or with their family. In view of the above, the Committee notes with concern that only in two provinces, Sindh and Balochistan, workers in agricultural establishments are covered by the laws setting the framework for the exercise of the right to freedom of association in Pakistan, and therefore, a large share of agricultural workers remains excluded from the scope of these laws, both at the federal and provincial levels. It further notes that in practice, only three unions of agricultural workers in one province have been established. Therefore, the Committee urges the Government to take adequate measures to ensure that federal and provincial Industrial Relations Acts are amended so as to expressly cover all agricultural workers, including those in the informal sector, and to enable them to enjoy the rights conferred by the Convention in law and in practice. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this respect.

The Committee noted information supplied by the following States in an answer to a direct request: Rwanda.