I. Introduction

1. The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, appointed by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to examine the information and reports submitted under articles 19, 22 and 35 of the Constitution by States Members of the International Labour Organization on the action taken with regard to Conventions and Recommendations, held its 76th Session in Geneva from 21 November to 9 December 2005. The Committee has the honour to present its report to the Governing Body.

6. The Committee has in recent years undertaken a thorough examination of its working methods. In 2001, in order to guide its reflections on this matter in an efficient manner, the Committee decided to create a subcommittee. This subcommittee has as a mandate to examine not only the working methods of the Committee as strictly defined, but also any related subjects, and to make appropriate recommendations to the Committee. (Endnote-1)

9. A spirit of mutual respect, cooperation and responsibility has consistently prevailed in the Committee's relations with the International Labour Conference and its Committee on the Application of Standards. The Committee of Experts takes the proceedings of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards into full consideration, not only in respect of general matters concerning standard-setting activities and supervisory procedures, but also in respect of specific matters concerning the way in which States fulfil their standards-related obligations. In this context, the Committee again welcomed the participation of its Chairperson as an observer in the general discussion of the Committee on the Application of Standards of the 93rd Session of the International Labour Conference (May-June 2005). It noted the request by the abovementioned Committee for the Director-General to renew this invitation for the 95th Session of the International Labour Conference (May-June 2006). The Committee has accepted this invitation.

11. The Committee notes the discussions of the Committee on the Application of Standards during the 93rd Session of the International Labour Conference concerning cases of serious failure by member States to comply with reporting and other standards-related obligations. In the light of these discussions, the Office sent specific follow-up letters to 53 member States. These cases were mentioned in the relevant paragraphs of the report of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards. The letters drew the attention of the governments concerned to their specific failures and requested them to identify in practical terms the difficulties they faced in fulfilling their obligations, including those that may result from the general national context, and the aspects of their obligations which would in their view most require technical assistance. In cases in which the government involved had not already specifically requested technical assistance, the letters also encouraged the government to examine this option. The Office invited the governments concerned to reply by 30 September 2005 so that the information provided could be brought to the attention of the Committee of Experts at its present session.

A. Supply of reports

14. The Committee's principal task consists of the examination of the reports supplied by governments on Conventions that have been ratified by member States or that have been declared applicable to non-metropolitan territories.

(a) a first report after ratification was due;

(b) important discrepancies had previously been noted between national law or practice and the Conventions in question;

(c) reports due for the previous period had not been received or did not contain the information requested;

(d) reports were expressly requested by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards.

The Committee also had before it a number of reports which it was unable to examine at its previous session.

17. A total of 2,638 reports were requested from governments on the application of Conventions ratified by member States (article 22 of the Constitution). At the end of the present session of the Committee, 1,820 of these reports had been received by the Office. This figure corresponds to 69 per cent of the reports requested, compared with 64.07 per cent last year.

21. Most of the governments from which reports were due on the application of ratified Conventions have supplied most or all the reports requested (see Appendix I). However, no reports due have been received for the past two or more years from the following 17 countries: Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Comoros, Gambia, Grenada, Guyana, Iraq, Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic, Liberia, Netherlands (Aruba), Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan and United Kingdom (St. Helena). In addition, all or the majority of the reports due this year have not been received from the following 36 countries: Albania, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Chile, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark (Faeroe Islands), Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Namibia, Netherlands (Netherlands Antilles), Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Singapore, United Republic of Tanzania (Tanganyika), Thailand, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom (Anguilla, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Montserrat), United States, United States (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands), Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Zambia.

23. The Committee is still concerned at the number of reports being received after the prescribed time period, especially given the large number of reports received this year. The reports due on ratified Conventions should be sent to the Office between 1 June and 1 September of each year. Due consideration is given, when setting this date, to the time required to translate the reports, where necessary, to conduct research into legislation and other documents necessary for the examination of reports and legislation.

27. A total of 105 of the 200 first reports due on the application of ratified Conventions were received by the time that the Committee's session ended, compared to last year when 138 of the 235 first reports due had been received. However, a number of countries have failed to supply first reports, some of which are more than a year overdue. Thus, certain first reports on ratified Conventions have not been received for a certain number of years from the following 19 member States:

since 1992: Liberia (Convention No. 133);

since 1995: Armenia (Convention No. 111), Kyrgyzstan (Convention No. 133);

since 1996: Armenia (Conventions Nos. 100, 122, 135, 151);

since 1998: Armenia (Convention No. 174), Equatorial Guinea (Conventions Nos. 68, 92);

since 1999: Turkmenistan (Conventions Nos. 29, 87, 98, 100, 105, 111);

since 2001: Armenia (Convention No. 176), Kyrgyzstan (Convention No. 105);

since 2002: Bosnia and Herzegovina (Convention No. 105), Gambia (Conventions Nos. 29, 105, 138), Saint Kitts and Nevis (Conventions Nos. 87, 98, 100), Saint Lucia (Conventions Nos. 154,158, 182);

since 2003: Bahamas (Convention No. 147), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Convention No. 182), Dominica (Convention No. 182), Gambia (Convention No. 182), Iraq (Conventions Nos. 172, 182), Paraguay (Convention No. 182), Serbia and Montenegro (Conventions Nos. 24, 25, 27, 113, 114), Uganda (Convention No. 182); and

since 2004: Albania (Conventions Nos. 150, 178); Antigua and Barbuda (Conventions Nos. 122, 131, 135, 142, 144, 150, 151, 154, 155, 158, 161, 182); Burundi (Convention No. 182); Dominica (Conventions Nos. 144, 169); The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Convention No. 182).

29. Governments are requested to reply in their reports to the observations and direct requests made by the Committee, and the majority of governments have provided the replies requested. In accordance with the established practice, the Office has written to all the governments which failed to provide such replies, requesting them to supply the necessary information. Of the 48 governments to which such letters were sent, only 15 have provided the information requested.

(a) of all the reports requested from governments, no reply has been received; or

(b) the reports received contained no reply to most of the Committee's comments (observations and/or direct requests)and/or did not reply to the letters sent by the Office.

33. In examining the reports received on ratified Conventions and Conventions declared applicable to non- metropolitan territories, in accordance with its normal practice, the Committee assigned to each of its members the initial responsibility for a group of Conventions. Reports received early enough are sent to the Members concerned in advance of the Committee's session. The Members submit their preliminary conclusions on the instruments for which they are responsible to the Committee in plenary sitting for discussion and approval. Decisions on comments are adopted by consensus.

34. In many cases, the Committee has found that no comment is called for regarding the manner in which a ratified Convention has been implemented. In other cases, however, the Committee has found it necessary to draw the attention of the governments concerned to the need to take further action to give effect to certain provisions of Conventions or to supply additional information on given points. As in previous years, its comments have been drawn up in the form either of "observations" which are reproduced in the report of the Committee, or "direct requests", which are not published in the Committee's report, but are communicated directly to the governments concerned. (Endnote-10)

the seriousness of the problem; in this respect, the Committee emphasizes that an important consideration is the necessity to view the problem in the context of a particular Convention and to take into account matters involving fundamental rights, workers' health, safety and well-being as well as any adverse impact, including at the international level, on workers and other categories of protected persons;

the persistence of the problem;

the urgency of the situation; the evaluation of such urgency is necessarily case-specific, according to standard human rights criteria, such as life-threatening situations or problems where irreversible harm is foreseeable; and

the quality and scope of the government's response in its reports or the absence of response to the issues raised by the Committee, including cases of clear and repeated refusal on the part of a State to comply with its obligations.

At its 76th Session, the Committee decided that the identification of cases in respect of which a special note (double footnote) is to be attributed will be a two-stage process: the expert initially responsible for a particular group of Conventions may recommend to the Committee the insertion of special notes; in light of all the recommendations made, the Committee will take a final, collegial decision on all the special notes to be inserted, once it has reviewed the application of all the Conventions.

39. It is customary for the Committee to note the information contained in the governments' reports allowing it to appreciate the application of the Conventions in practice, such as information relating to judicial decisions, statistics and labour inspection. The supply of this information is requested in almost all report forms, as well as the specific terms of some Conventions. 40. The Committee notes that 703 reports received this year contain information on the practical application of Conventions. Of these, 69 reports contain information on national jurisprudence. Such information has been communicated mostly for fundamental Conventions and in particular Conventions Nos. 98, 100, 111 and 182. The Committee also notes that 634 of the reports contain information on statistics and labour inspection. The majority of this information relates to Conventions concerning freedom of association (Convention No. 98), elimination of child labour (Convention Nos. 138 and 182), equality of opportunity and treatment (Conventions Nos. 100 and 111), tripartite consultations (Convention No. 144), employment policy and promotion (Conventions Nos. 88 and 122) and disabled persons (Convention No. 159).

42. Following its examination of the reports supplied by governments, and in accordance with its standard practice, the Committee refers in its comments to cases in which it expresses its satisfaction or interest at the progress achieved in the application of the respective Conventions. Over the years, the Committee has developed a general approach concerning the identification of cases of progress. In describing the approach below, the Committee wishes to emphasize that an expression of progress can refer to many kinds of measures. In the final instance, the Committee will exercise its discretion in noting progress having regard in particular to the nature of the Convention as well as to the specific circumstances of the country.

48. At each session, the Committee draws the attention of governments to the important role of employers' and workers' organizations in the application of Conventions and Recommendations. Moreover, it highlights the fact that numerous Conventions require consultation with employers' and workers' organizations, or their collaboration in a variety of measures. The Committee notes that almost all governments have indicated in the reports supplied under articles 19 and 22 of the Constitution the representative organizations of employers and workers to which, in accordance with article 23, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, they have communicated copies of the reports supplied to the Office. Moreover, almost all governments have indicated the organizations to which they have communicated copies of the information supplied to the Office on the submission to the competent authorities of the instruments adopted by the Conference.

49. Since its last session, the Committee has received 577 observations (compared to 533 last year), 67 of which were communicated by employers' organizations and 510 by workers' organizations. The Committee recalls the importance it attaches to this contribution by employers' and workers' organizations to the work of the supervisory bodies, which is essential for the Committee's evaluation of the application of ratified Conventions in law and in practice.

55. In accordance with its terms of reference, the Committee this year examined the following information supplied by the governments of member States pursuant to article 19 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation:

(a) information on the steps taken to submit to the competent authorities the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185), adopted by the Conference at its 91st Session(2003);

(b) information on the steps taken to submit to the competent authorities the Human Resources Development Recommendation, 2004 (No. 195), adopted by the Conference at its 92nd Session (2004);

(c) additional information on the steps taken to submit to the competent authorities the instruments adopted by the Conference from its 31st Session (1948) to its 91st Session (2003) (Conventions Nos. 87 to 184, Recommendations Nos. 83 to 194 and the Protocols);

57. Convention No. 185, adopted at the 91st Session (2003) of the Conference, was to be submitted to the competent authorities within one year or, under exceptional circumstances, within 18 months of the closure of the session of the Conference, that is, before 19 June 2004 and 19 December 2004, respectively. The Committee notes with interest the information on the submission of this instrument to the competent authorities provided by the following 23 governments, in addition to those mentioned in the last report: Algeria, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Gabon, Guyana, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Jamaica, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Portugal, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Viet Nam and Yemen. Convention No. 185 has received four ratifications.

58. Recommendation No. 195, adopted at the 92nd Session (2004) of the Conference, was to be submitted to the competent authorities within one year or, under exceptional circumstances, within 18 months of the closure of the session of the Conference, that is, before 17 June 2005 and 17 December 2005, respectively. The following 59 governments have provided information on the steps taken with a view to the submission of Recommendation No. 195 to the authorities which they consider competent: Algeria, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Morocco, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sudan, Switzerland, United Republic of Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Viet Nam and Zimbabwe.

60. The Committee welcomes the special efforts made by the following governments: Algeria, Bolivia, Jamaica, Latvia and United Republic of Tanzania.

61. The Committee welcomes the adoption of a revised Memorandum on the constitutional obligation to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference to the competent authorities. (Endnote-18) At its 292nd Session (March 2005), the Governing Body took into account various comments of the Committee of Experts and the Conference Committee with a view to updating certain issues relating to the obligation of submission. The aims and objectives of submission have been further specified, in particular regarding information to social partners, which should allow an important dialogue with the government authorities and parliamentarians on the activities of the Conference. For the member States that have ratified Convention No. 144, the proposals and documents relating to submission should be covered by tripartite consultations.

67. As in its previous reports, the Committee makes individual observations, in section III of Part Two of this report, on the points that should be brought to the special attention of governments. In addition, requests for additional information on other points have been addressed directly to a number of countries (see the list at the end of section III).

69. The Committee regrets that the governments of the following nine countries have supplied no information showing that the instruments adopted by the Conference at the last seven or more sessions (from the 85th to the 91st) have indeed been submitted to the competent authorities: Afghanistan, Armenia, Cambodia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

73. In accordance with the decision taken by the Governing Body, (Endnote-19) governments were requested to supply reports under article 19 of the ILO Constitution on the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), the Protocol of 1995 to the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947, the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), the Labour Inspection (Mining and Transport) Recommendation, 1947 (No. 82), the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129), and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133).

A. Cooperation in the field of standards with the United Nations, the specialized agencies and other international organizations

78. In the context of its collaboration with other international organizations on questions concerning the supervision of the application of international instruments relating to subjects of common interest, the United Nations, certain specialized agencies and other intergovernmental organizations with which the ILO has entered into special arrangements for this purpose, are asked whether they have information on how specific ILO Conventions are being applied. The list of the Conventions concerned and the international organizations that were consulted is as follows:

- the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107): United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Inter-American Indian Institute of the Organization of American States, United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Rights, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and World Health Organization (WHO);

- the Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115): International Atomic Energy Agency;

- the Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117): FAO, United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Rights and UNESCO;

- the Prevention of Accidents (Seafarers) Convention, 1970 (No. 134), and the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147): International Maritime Organization (IMO);

- the Rural Workers' Organisations Convention, 1975 (No. 141): FAO, United Nations and United Nations Centre for Human Rights;

- the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142): UNESCO;

- the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143): United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Rights, UNESCO and WHO;

- the Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149): WHO;

- the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169): FAO, Inter-American Indian Institute of the Organization of American States, United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Rights, UNESCO and WHO.

79. International labour standards and the provisions of the related United Nations human rights treaties are complementary and mutually reinforcing. The Committee therefore emphasizes the importance of collaboration between the ILO and the United Nations with regard to their application and supervision. This process is facilitated by the written reports and oral information that the Office regularly provides to UN human rights treaty bodies, in accordance with existing arrangements with each of them. Since the Committee's last session, activities have been undertaken in relation to the bodies responsible for supervising the application of the following instruments:

- the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (two sessions);

- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (three sessions);

- the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (two sessions);

- the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (two sessions).

83. In accordance with the supervisory procedure established under article 74(4) of the Code, and the arrangements made between the ILO and the Council of Europe, the Committee of Experts examined 17 reports on the application of the European Code of Social Security and, as appropriate, its Protocol. It noted that the States parties to the Code (Endnote-21) and the Protocol continue to apply them in large measure. At the sitting in which the Committee examined the reports on the Code and its Protocol, the Council of Europe was represented by Ms. Ana Gomez-Herodero. The conclusions of the Committee regarding these reports will be sent to the Council of Europe for examination by the Committee of Experts on Standard- Setting Instruments in the field of social security. Representatives of the ILO will participate next year as technical advisers in the meeting of this Committee, during which the Committee of Experts' conclusions will be examined.

84. The Committee welcomes the ILO's continued collaboration with a number of international organizations and bodies to raise awareness of the relevance of international labour standards for the promotion of human rights and sustainable economic and social development. Since the Committee's last meeting, this collaboration took place with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and its subsidiary bodies, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the European Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.