Observación sobre sumisión a las autoridades competentes (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Bahrein

Serious failure to submit. The Committee recalls that, for more than 20 years, it has been requesting the Government to submit the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference to the National Assembly in compliance with its obligation of submission pursuant to article 19 of the ILO Constitution. In this respect, it notes the information provided by the Government in its communication of 21 July 2024, in which it reiterates that it considers that: (i) Bahrain has complied with its constitutional obligation by submitting all the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference between 2000 and 2019 to its Council of Ministers, as the authority considered competent for the purpose of article 19 of the ILO Constitution; and (ii) a new mechanism for submission of the instruments adopted by the Conference would require the revision of the Constitution of Bahrain and of a number of laws which regulate this aspect and which specify the mandate and powers of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly. The Government further indicates that the international labour standards adopted by the Conference are brought to the knowledge of the public through: (i) the Council of Ministers which issues a general statement clarifying the decisions that it has taken with regard to the matters in its agenda; and (ii) the representatives of the employers’ and workers’ organizations participating in the Conference, who are responsible for informing all stakeholders at the domestic level.

The Committee understands that, in Bahrain, the Council of Ministers is considered the competent authority for the purpose of article 19 of the ILO Constitution as it is the authority competent to ratify a Convention or Protocol, as well as to decide on any other action which it may deem appropriate in respect of the instruments adopted by the Conference. It also understands that, pursuant to the Constitution of Bahrain, the Council of Representatives is the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly. In this regard, the Committee emphasizes, however, that the obligation of ILO Member States to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference to the competent authority is of a different nature and does not imply any obligation to propose the ratification or application of the instruments in question, or to take any other specific action. Pursuant to article 19 of the ILO Constitution, Member States have complete freedom as to the nature of the proposals to be made, if any, when submitting the instruments (Memorandum concerning the obligation to submit Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authority, Part III(b)). This obligation is applicable even in cases where legislative power is vested in the executive by virtue of the Constitution of the Member State. As to the objective of submission, it is twofold: (1) to encourage ratification or application of instruments adopted by the Conference through submission to the competent authority empowered to consider ratification; and (2) to bring the instruments adopted by the Conference to the knowledge of the public through their submission to a parliamentary or deliberative body. In this respect, the Committee recalls once again that discussion in a deliberative assembly – or at a minimum transmission to a deliberative assembly of information concerning the instruments adopted by the International Labour Conference – is an essential component of the constitutional obligation to submit (2005 Memorandum, Part I(c) and Part II(c)).

In light of the above, while acknowledging the constitutional reasons that require the Government to regard the Council of Ministers as the competent authority for the purposes of article 19 of the ILO Constitution, the Committee suggests that, so as to fully comply with Bahrain’s submission obligations as per article 19 of the ILO Constitution and in accordance with the Memorandum concerning the obligation to submit adopted by the Governing Body in 2005, that the Government also considers transmitting the instruments once reviewed by the Council of Ministers to the Council of Representatives for their information. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any development in this regard.

Moreover, as regards instruments on which no information has been provided so far, the Committee observes that the Government is yet to provide information regarding the submission of the instruments adopted by the Conference at its 111th Session (June 2023), namely the Safe and Healthy Working Environment (Consequential Amendments) Convention (No. 191) and Recommendation (No. 207), 2023, and the Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation, 2023 (No. 208). In view of the above, the Committee once again expresses the hope that the Government will take urgent measures to further examine this matter in order to ensure full compliance with this obligation to submit, established in article 19 of the ILO Constitution, and that it will soon be in a position to report not only on the submission to the Council of Ministers of the 25 instruments adopted by the Conference at 14 sessions held between 2000 and 2019 (88th Session, 89th Session, 90th Session, 91st Session, 92nd Session, 94th Session, 95th Session, 96th Session, 99th Session, 100th Session, 101st Session, 103rd Session, 104th Session and 108th Session), but also on their transmission to a deliberative assembly such as the Council of Representatives. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the submission of the Safe and Healthy Working Environment (Consequential Amendments) Convention (No. 191) and Recommendation (No. 207), 2023, and the Quality Apprenticeships Recommendation (No. 208),2023, adopted by the Conference at its 111th Session.