Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2011, publiée 101ème session CIT (2012)

Convention (n° 81) sur l'inspection du travail, 1947 - Niger (Ratification: 1979)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report provides information on the provisions of the national legislation vis-à-vis the provisions of the Convention. It notes in particular that, under Article 11 of the Convention concerning working conditions as well as logistical and material resources of labour inspectors, the Government indicates that, in the event of labour inspectors incurring expenses as part of their displacement or the performance of their duties, the costs are reimbursed through the national budget. However, it states that some inspectors do not even have a vehicle to carry out visits and usually perform requisitions. In addition, under Part IV of the report form for the Convention, the Government states that the general difficulties related to the implementation of the Convention lie within the limited human, material and logistical resources available to labour inspectors and to the National Labour Directorate resulting in the impairment to effectively fulfil their mission.

In its previous comments, the Committee had referred on several occasions to the findings of the high-level investigation mission carried out by the Office from 10 to 20 January 2006 (in the context of controlling the implementation of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)), which highlighted the fact that the Labour Inspectorate was “severely deprived of material and humane means necessary to accomplish its various missions”, and recommended an audit of that institution to determine the exact nature and extent of needs in this area and considered that, once that was done, the Government would work with support from the ILO and that of other UN agencies and interested donors in order to mobilize resources.

In its report received in 2009, the Government committed itself to trying to make every effort to ensure that the audit would take place as soon as possible and to inform the Office of any developments in this regard. The Committee notes that the Government has not taken the measures in question but that, in response to the observation of 2010 on the need for an audit, while referring to the poor conditions within the labour inspection services, it has formally requested support and assistance from the ILO in order to strengthen the operational capabilities of its inspection services and address particular mining prospects.

The Committee must draw the Government’s attention to the fact that the establishment of a labour inspection system meeting the socio-economic objectives covered by the Convention should take in due account the measures recommended by the Commission particularly in its General Survey of 2006 on labour inspection and in its general observations of 2007 (the need for effective cooperation between the labour inspection services and the judiciary), of 2009 (the availability of statistics on industrial and commercial establishments liable to labour inspection and the number of workers covered as baseline information for assessing the implementation of the Convention in practice) and of 2010 (the publication and content of an annual report on the functioning of the labour inspection). In the absence of basic information on the functioning of the labour inspection (statistics on labour inspection activities and their results, geographical distribution of industrial and commercial undertakings covered by the Convention and workers occupied therein), the Committee is not in a position to assess the effect given in practice to the Convention or to the relevant national legislation.

Consequently, the Committee hopes that the Government’s request for ILO support in order to establish, in law and in practice, a labour inspection system as prescribed by the Convention will be satisfied rapidly and requests the Government to take, in consultation with organizations of employers and workers and in cooperation with the ILO Office in the region, the necessary measures for this purpose. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of the progress achieved and any difficulties encountered.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]