R070 - Recommandation (no 70) sur la politique sociale dans les territoires dépendants, 1944

ANNEX

PART I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. 1. All policies designed to apply to dependent territories shall be primarily directed to the well-being and development of the peoples of such territories and to the promotion of the desire on their part for social progress.
2. 2. Policies of more general application shall be formulated with due regard to their effect upon the well-being of dependent peoples.

1. 1. In order to promote economic advancement and thus to lay the foundations of social progress, every effort shall be made to secure, on an international, regional, national or territorial basis, financial and technical assistance in the economic development of dependent territories under the control of the local administrations, in such a way as to safeguard the interests of the peoples of dependent territories.
2. 2. It shall be an aim of policy for all government authorities to ensure that adequate funds are made available to provide capital for development purposes on terms which secure to the peoples of the dependent territories the full benefits of such development.
3. 3. In appropriate cases international, regional or national action shall be taken with a view to establishing conditions of trade sufficient for the maintenance of reasonable standards of living for producers efficiently producing the essential export products of dependent territories.

All possible steps shall be taken by appropriate international, regional, national and territorial measures to promote improvement in such fields as public health, housing, nutrition, education, the welfare of children, the status of women, conditions of employment, the remuneration of wage earners and independent producers, migratory labour, social security, standards of public services and general production. These steps shall include the adoption of appropriate commercial and trading policies by countries on which dependent territories depend.

All possible steps shall be taken effectively to associate the peoples of the dependent territories in the framing and execution of measures of social progress, preferably through their own elected representatives where appropriate and possible.

PART II. MINIMUM STANDARDS

Section 1. Slavery

In pursuance of the objective of free labour in a free world, the principle is affirmed that the slave trade and slavery in all its forms shall be prohibited and effectively suppressed in all dependent territories.

Section 2. Opium

1. 1. In recognition of the menace which the use of opium may represent to the health, productivity and general welfare of the peoples of dependent territories, the principle is affirmed that the traffic in opium and other dangerous drugs shall be strictly regulated in such manner as to protect fully the interests of the workers.
2. 2. Consideration shall be given to the prohibition of opium smoking and the abolition of government opium monopolies in all dependent territories where opium smoking is still authorised.

Section 3. Forced or Compulsory Labour

1. 1. The use of forced or compulsory labour in dependent territories, which may have been inaugurated during the present war emergency, shall be eliminated entirely within the shortest possible period. In the meantime measures shall be adopted in dependent territories to increase the spontaneous offer of labour.
2. 2. The use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms shall be suppressed within the shortest possible period.
3. 3. Where forced or compulsory labour is used in dependent territories as a temporary and exceptional measure the conditions and guarantees provided for in the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, shall be respected. In no case shall the use of forced or compulsory labour by private employers be permitted, irrespective of whether or not the State contracts with the employers.
4. 4. Consideration shall be given to the possibility of eliminating or withdrawing any exceptions to the application in dependent territories of all provisions of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930.
5. 5. Consideration shall be given to the application of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, to those dependent territories where forced or compulsory labour may occur in respect of which the Convention is not already in force.
6. 6. Consideration shall be given to the desirability of ratifying the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, by such States responsible for dependent territories where forced or compulsory labour may occur as have not already done so.

With a view to avoiding the development of indirect compulsion to labour, consideration shall be given to the application of the principles set forth in the Forced Labour (Indirect Compulsion) Recommendation, 1930.

Section 4. Recruiting of Workers

1. 1. It shall be an aim of policy to eliminate the recruiting of workers and to replace such recruiting by arrangements which, though based upon the spontaneous offer of labour through free agencies controlled by government, provide for medical inspection, transport, food and shelter and all other benefits accruing to workers under existing systems.
2. 2. Pending the formulation of any new proposals concerning the methods of obtaining labour and with a view to the more rapid promotion of a changeover to the new methods contemplated, consideration shall be given to the application of the principles contained in the Elimination of Recruiting Recommendation, 1936.

1. 1. Consideration shall be given to the application of the Recruiting of Indigenous Workers Convention, 1936, to those dependent territories where recruiting may occur in respect of which the Convention is not already in force.
2. 2. Consideration shall be given to the desirability of ratifying the Recruiting of Indigenous Workers Convention, 1936, by such States responsible for dependent territories where recruiting may occur as have not already done so.

Section 5. Special Types of Contract of Employment

1. 1. It shall be an aim of policy to regulate long-term employment by a system of written contracts in the cases required by and in accordance with the provisions of the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939.
2. 2. Consideration shall be given to the application of the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939, to those dependent territories where employment under long-term contract may occur in respect of which the Convention is not already in force.
3. 3. Consideration shall be given to the desirability of ratifying the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939, by such States responsible for dependent territories where employment under long-term contract may occur as have not already done so.

With a view to the definite limitation of periods of service under contract, consideration shall be given to the application of the principles set forth in the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Recommendation, 1939.

1. 1. All practicable steps shall be taken to equate supply and demand in areas where some casual employment is inevitable and to guard against undesirable attraction of casual labour to centres of potential employment.
2. 2. Measures, such as short-term labour agreements, shall be considered in order to secure the maximum employment for labour normally available at such centres.

1. 1. The practice of entering statements of a subjective nature on the worker's conduct or ability in work-cards or work-books required by law to be carried on the person of the worker shall be eliminated.
2. 2. The use of work-cards or work-books shall be regulated to prevent their use as a device of intimidation or compulsion in employment.

Where a married man is employed on contract within his own country but at a considerable distance from his home, the competent authority shall take all practical steps in appropriate cases to afford him full opportunity to be accompanied if he so desires by his wife and family.

Section 6. Penal Sanctions

1. 1. It shall be an aim of policy to abolish penal sanctions for breach of contract of employment as defined in Article 1 of the Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939.
2. 2. Consideration shall be given to the application of the Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939, to those dependent territories where the imposition of penal sanctions may occur in respect of which the Convention is not already in force.
3. 3. Consideration shall be given to the desirability of ratifying the Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939, by such States responsible for dependent territories where the imposition of penal sanctions may occur as have not already done so.

Section 7. Employment of Children and Young Persons

1. 1. Adequate provision shall be made in dependent territories, to the maximum extent possible under local conditions, for the progressive development of broad systems of education, vocational training and apprenticeship, with a view to the elimination of illiteracy among children and young persons and to their effective preparation for a useful occupation.
2. 2. In order that the child population may be able to profit by existing facilities for education and in order that the extension of these facilities may not be hindered by a demand for child labour, the employment of persons below the school-leaving age shall be prohibited in any area where educational facilities are provided on a scale adequate for the majority of the children of school age.

1. 1. Children under the age of twelve years shall not be employed in any employment, except on light work of an agricultural or domestic character in which only members of the employer's family are employed or except on agricultural light work carried on collectively by the local community. This age shall be progressively raised along with the school-leaving age.
2. 2. Where the transfer of children to the family of an employer is permitted by custom, the conditions of transfer and of employment shall be closely regulated and supervised, whether the children are above or below twelve years of age. The progressive abolition of all such transfers shall be an aim of policy for all dependent territories.

Children under the age of fifteen years shall not be employed or work in any industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof.

Children under the age of fifteen years shall not be employed or work on vessels.

1. 1. Young persons under the age of sixteen years shall not be employed underground in mines.
2. 2. The employment underground in mines of young persons who have attained the age of sixteen years but not that of eighteen years shall be conditional on the production of a medical certificate attesting fitness for such work, signed by a doctor who shall be approved by the competent authority.

1. 1. Young persons under the age of eighteen years shall not be employed or work on vessels as trimmers or stokers.
2. 2. When a trimmer or stoker is required in a port where young persons of less than eighteen years of age only are available, such young persons may be employed and in that case it shall be necessary to engage two young persons in place of the trimmer or stoker required. Such young persons shall be at least sixteen years of age.
3. 3. Provided that the provisions of this Article do not apply :
   • (a) to the employment of young persons on vessels mainly propelled by other means than steam;
   • (b) to young persons of not less than sixteen years of age who, if found physically fit after medical examination, may be employed as trimmers or stokers on vessels exclusively engaged in coastal trade.

The provisions of Articles 18 (1), 19 and 20 do not apply to work, approved and supervised by the competent authority, done by children or young persons in bona fide State or private technical schools or school ships or training ships having prescribed courses of study and reasonable limits on the length of time in which students may remain in training or apprenticeship.

1. 1. In the case of unhealthy, dangerous or onerous work, minimum ages higher than those required in virtue of Article 18 (1) and 19 shall be fixed, or the hours of work of children between the minimum age of employment and an appropriate higher age shall be subject to special limitations, or other special protection shall be afforded.
2. 2. Special protection shall be provided for children who are permitted to undertake employment away from their homes.

1. 1. Young persons under eighteen years of age shall not be employed during the night in any industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof.
2. 2. Provided that young persons over the age of sixteen years may be employed during the night in exceptional circumstances defined by the competent authority.

1. 1. The employment of any young person under eighteen years of age on any vessel shall be conditional on the production of a medical certificate attesting fitness for such work, signed by a doctor who shall be approved by the competent authority.
2. 2. In urgent cases the competent authority may allow a young person below the age of eighteen years to embark without having undergone medical examination, always provided that such an examination shall be undergone, at the expense of the employer, at the first port at which the vessels calls, and that failing satisfactory medical attestation the young person shall be returned as a passenger to the port or place where he was engaged or to his home, whichever is the nearer, at the expense of the employer.

In developing systems of education suited to the economic and social interests of the communities, consideration shall be given to the application of the principles set forth in the Vocational Training Recommendation, 1939, so far as this is practicable and appropriate to local circumstances.

To assist in the application of the provisions of this Section, administrative bodies or officers shall be appointed. The appointment and establishment of these administrative bodies or officers shall be made in accordance with practices successfully adopted in metropolitan or independent countries.

Section 8. Employment of Women

It shall be an aim of policy for all competent authorities to take such measures as, having due regard to local conditions, are appropriate and practicable to secure for women: adequate opportunities of general education, vocational training and employment; safeguards against physically harmful conditions of employment and economic exploitation, including safeguards for motherhood; protection against any special forms of exploitation; and fair and equal treatment between men and women as regards remuneration and other conditions of employment.

All practicable steps shall be taken to improve the social and economic status of women in any dependent territory where, whether by law or custom, arrangements survive which in effect maintain women in, or reduce women to, a condition of servitude.

1. 1. Provision shall be made as rapidly as possible for maternity protection for women employed in industrial and commercial undertakings.
2. 2. In so doing the aim shall be to give effect, subject to such modifications as may be necessary in the light of local conditions, to the provisions of the Childbirth Convention, 1919, and in particular to the following principles:
   • (a) the right to be absent from employment before and after childbirth;
   • (b) the right to medical assistance and benefits during such absence.

1. 1. Women shall not be employed during the night in any industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof.
2. 2. Provided that women may be employed during the night :
   • (a) in cases where the work has to do with raw materials or materials in course of treatment which are subject to rapid deterioration; and
   • (b) when in any undertaking an emergency occurs which it was impossible to foresee and which is not of a recurring character.
3. 3. Provided also that the prohibition of night work may be suspended when in case of serious emergency the public interest demands it.
4. 4. The provisions of this Article do not apply to women holding responsible positions of management who are not ordinarily engaged in manual work.

1. 1. Women shall not be employed on underground work in any mine.
2. 2. Provided that the competent authority may grant exemptions from the above prohibition in respect of :
   • (a) women holding positions of management who do not perform manual work;
   • (b) women employed in health and welfare services;
   • (c) women who, in the course of their studies, spend a period of training in the underground parts of a mine; and
   • (d) any other woman who may occasionally have to enter the underground parts of a mine for the purpose of a non-manual occupation.

In order to promote the application of measures relating to the employment and economic status of women and their welfare, use shall be made of women advisers where questions especially affecting women are to be considered. The women advisers shall, whenever possible, be drawn from the local population.

Section 9. Remuneration

1. 1. The improvement of standards of living shall be regarded as the principal objective in the planning of economic development.
2. 2. All practicable measures appropriate to local conditions shall be taken to secure for independent producers and wage earners conditions which will ensure the maintenance of minimum standards of living as ascertained by means of official enquiries into living conditions and will give scope to independent producers and wage earners to improve those standards by their own efforts.
3. 3. Forms of economic enterprise which require the labour of workers living away from their homes shall take account of the normal family needs of the workers.
4. 4. Where the labour resources of other areas are used on a temporary basis for the benefit of one area, measures shall be taken to encourage the transfer of part of the workers' wages and savings from the area of labour utilisation to the areas of labour supply.
5. 5. Where workers and their families move from low-cost to higher cost areas, account shall be taken of the increased cost of living resulting from the change.
6. 6. The substitution of alcohol or other spirituous beverages for all or any part of wages for services performed by the workers shall be prohibited.

All public works, whether undertaken directly by a public authority or through a contract entered into between a public authority and an employer, shall be subject to the requirement that the rates of wages and the general conditions of employment shall be not less than the prevailing rates and conditions, and shall where practicable be fixed after consultation with any employers' and workers' organisations concerned.

Section 10. Health, Housing and Social Security

1. 1. All practicable measures shall be taken to improve the health of the people by the extension of medical facilities, by the development of public health programmes, by surveys of epidemic and endemic diseases prevalent in tropical dependent territories and by the introduction of appropriate measures combating them, by the spread of health education and the improvement of nutrition and housing.
2. 2. All practicable measures shall be taken to ascertain by nutritional surveys the food requirements of the people and the ways of improving nutrition and to give effect to the food policies which such surveys indicate. National nutritional organisations shall be set up and shall be provided with adequate funds, facilities and authority.
3. 3. The competent authority shall be responsible for ensuring the establishment of satisfactory housing conditions. The general aim of policy shall be to provide workers normally dependent on wage earning with the opportunity of securing satisfactory housing accommodation on premises not the property of the employer.
4. 4. Where an undertaking employing labour is situated in an area where satisfactory housing accommodation is not available, the provision of housing may be made an obligation on the undertaking on an equitable basis. In such cases the competent authority shall define the minimum standards of accommodation and shall exercise strict control over the enforcement of these standards. The competent authority shall also define the rights of the worker who may be required to vacate his house on leaving employment and shall take all necessary steps to secure the enforcement of these rights.

Such arrangements as are practicable, having due regard to local conditions, shall be made for the maintenance and treatment of the sick and for the care of the aged, of the incapacitated and of the dependent survivors of deceased persons.

1. 1. Provision shall be made by law for the payment of compensation to employed persons in case of incapacity for work caused by accidents arising out of and in the course of their employment, and to their dependent survivors in case of death caused by such accidents, and for the medical care of persons injured by such accidents.
2. 2. The laws and regulations concerning workmen's compensation shall apply to all workers, employees and apprentices employed on vessels and by industrial, commercial and agricultural undertakings.
3. 3. Provided that exceptions may be made in respect of :
   • (a) persons whose employment is of a casual nature and who are employed otherwise than for the purpose of the employer's trade or business;
   • (b) outworkers;
   • (c) members of the employer's family who work exclusively on his behalf and who live with him;
   • (d) non-manual workers whose remuneration exceeds a limit to be determined by laws or regulations.

1. 1. Compensation shall be payable to workers incapacitated by occupational diseases, or, in case of death from any such disease, to their dependants, in accordance with the general principles of workmen's compensation.
2. 2. Provided that such compensation may be limited to the occupational diseases of chief importance in the territory concerned.

Section 11. Prohibition of Colour and Religious Bars and Other Discriminatory Practices

1. 1. The standards set by law in each territory with respect to conditions of labour shall have due regard to the equitable economic treatment of all workers lawfully resident or working therein.
2. 2. Discrimination directed against workers for reason of race, colour, confession or tribal association, as regards their admission to public or private employment, shall be prohibited.
3. 3. All measures practicable under local conditions shall be taken to promote effective equality of treatment in employment by the provision of facilities for training, by the discouragement of discrimination in the negotiation of collective agreements or on grounds of trade union membership, and by other appropriate means.

Section 12. Inspection

1. 1. Labour inspection services shall be established in territories where such services do not already exist. Inspectors shall be required to inspect conditions of employment at frequent intervals.
2. 2. The inspectors shall have no direct or indirect interest in undertakings subject to their supervision.
3. 3. Workers and their representatives shall be afforded every facility for communicating freely with the inspectors.

Section 13. Industrial Organisation

1. 1. The rights of employers and employed alike to associate for all lawful purposes shall be guaranteed by appropriate measures.
2. 2. All practicable measures shall be taken to consult and associate the representatives of organisations of employers and workers in the establishment and working of machinery for conciliation, arbitration, minimum wage-fixing and labour inspection. Where representative organisations of workers have not developed, the competent authority shall appoint persons specially qualified to act on behalf of the workers and by advice and guidance to assist in the early development of workers' organisations.
3. 3. All practicable measures shall be taken to assure to trade unions which are representative of the workers concerned the right to conclude collective agreements with employers or employers' organisations.

1. 1. As rapidly as possible, machinery shall be created for the settlement of collective disputes between employers and workers.
2. 2. Representatives of the employers and workers concerned, including representatives of their respective organisations, where such exist, shall, where practicable, be associated in the operation of the machinery in such manner and to such extent, but in any case in equal numbers and on equal terms, as may be determined by the competent authority.

Section 14. Co-operative Organisations

1. 1. The assistance and development of co-operative societies, including co-operative organisations of workers for the promotion of health, housing and education, shall be accepted as part of the economic programme of competent authorities in dependent territories, and the measures to be taken shall include financial assistance wherever this is appropriate.
2. 2. To this end consideration shall be given to :
   • (a) the adoption of adequate legislation, simple and inexpensive in application, covering all forms of co-operative organisations;
   • (b) the creation of special services to promote and supervise the development and co-operative organisations and to encourage education in co-operation.
3. 3. In appropriate cases co-operative organisations shall be effectively represented on public boards and agencies affecting their interests.

Section 15. Definitions and Scope

For the purposes of this Part of the present Annex :

• (a) the term agricultural undertaking may be defined so as to include processes conducted on the undertaking for the preservation and despatch of the agricultural products of the undertaking, unless it is desired to classify these processes as parts of an industrial undertaking;
• (b) the term commercial undertaking includes :
  • (i) commercial establishments and offices, including establishments engaging wholly or mainly in the sale, purchase, distribution, insurance, negotiation, loan or administration of goods or services of any kind;
  • (ii) establishments for the treatment or care particularly of the aged, infirm, sick, destitute, or mentally unfit;
  • (iii) hotels, restaurants, boarding houses, clubs, cafés and other refreshment houses;
  • (iv) theatres and places of public amusement; and
  • (v) any establishment similar in character to those enumerated in sub-paragraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) above;
• (c) the term industrial undertaking includes :
  • (i) undertakings in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including undertakings engaged in shipbuilding, in the generation, transformation, or transmission of electricity, in the production or distribution of gas or motive power of any kind, in the purification or distribution of water, or in heating;
  • (ii) undertakings engaged in the construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, alteration, or demolition of any one or more of the following: buildings, railways, tramways, airports, harbours, docks, piers, works of protection against floods or coast erosion, canals, works for the purpose of inland, maritime or aerial navigation, roads, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, sewers, drains, wells, irrigation or drainage works, telecommunication installations, works for the production or distribution of electricity or gas, pipelines, waterworks, and undertakings engaged in other similar work or in the preparation for or laying the foundations of any such work or structure;
  • (iii) mines, quarries or other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth; and
  • (iv) undertakings engaged in the transport of passengers or goods, excluding transport by hand, unless such undertakings are regarded as parts of the operation of an agricultural or commercial undertaking;
• (d) the terms agricultural undertaking , commercial undertaking and industrial undertaking include both public and private undertakings;
• (e) the term vessel includes all ships and boats, of any nature whatsoever, engaged in maritime navigation, whether publicly or privately owned, excluding ships of war; it may be interpreted as excluding vessels of less than a specified tonnage and carrying a crew of less than a specified number;
• (f) the term night signifies a period of at least eleven consecutive hours: Provided that in those tropical countries in which work is suspended during the middle of the day, the night period may be shorter if compensatory rest is accorded during the day;
• (g) provisions prescribing a minimum age may be interpreted as relating to an apparent minimum age where records of birth are inadequate.

The competent authority may exclude from the application of the provisions of this Part of the present Annex undertakings or vessels in respect of which, from their nature and size, adequate supervision may be impracticable.