Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2004, publiée 93ème session CIT (2005)

Convention (n° 81) sur l'inspection du travail, 1947 - Burundi (Ratification: 1971)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that the Government provided a report that was identical to the one received in November 1999. It requests the Government, on the one hand, to refer to its general observation of 1999 on labour inspection and child labour and, on the other hand, to provide information in reply to the request that it addressed directly to it the same year on the following points:

The Committee observes that the activities of the labour inspection service focus chiefly on the settlement of labour disputes and, secondarily, on activities linked to the main functions as set out in Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Government is requested to supply information on the manner in which it is ensured, in accordance with paragraph 2 of the same Article, that duties such as the settlement of labour conflicts and the formulation of draft laws and regulations which are entrusted to the labour inspection service do not interfere with the effective discharge of the inspectors’ primary duties or prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary in their relations with employers and workers.

The Committee notes the information indicating that the material resources of the labour inspection service have been particularly affected by the state of political crisis and the subsequent freezing of international aid for a long period and expresses the hope that relations with donor countries will rapidly return to normal.

The Committee is particularly concerned at the statistics supplied by the Government to the effect that, for the first quarter of 1999 alone, 1,770 occupational accidents were reported in the 461 workplaces liable to inspection and only one inspection was carried out. The Committee hopes that assistance and financial help will speedily be resumed, which should improve the situation of the labour inspection service. It wishes, moreover, to emphasize that, in order to permit the closest possible application of the Convention, the duties of the labour inspection service should be redefined in a realistic manner in accordance with the provisions cited above. In the current state of the legislation, and bearing in mind the modest human resources and material and financial means available to the labour inspection service, it is obviously urgent for control activities to be developed in regard to safety and health at work. This priority necessarily implies work to increase the awareness of employers and workers in regard to compliance with the legal and technical occupational safety and health provisions and the progressive elimination of risk factors. The Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to put to use as speedily as possible, to that end, all the means available to it, particularly by allocation of part of international assistance programme funds and recourse to ILO expertise. The Committee requests the Government to continue to communicate statistics on the matters set out under Article 21(b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) and to supply any information making it possible to appreciate the evolution of the situation.