R104 Indigenous and Tribal
Populations Recommendation, 1957
Recommendation concerning the Protection and Integration of
Indigenous and Other Tribal and Semi-Tribal Populations in Independent Countries
Recommendation:R104
Place: Geneva
Session of the Conference:40
Date of adoption=26:06:1957
The General Conference of the International Labour
Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Fortieth Session on 5 June
1957, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with
regard to the protection and integration of indigenous and other tribal and
semi-tribal populations in independent countries, which is the sixth item on the
agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form
of a Recommendation, supplementing the Indigenous and Tribal Populations
Convention, 1957, and
Noting that the following standards have been framed with
the co-operation of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of
the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation and the World Health Organisation, at appropriate levels and in
their respective fields, and that it is proposed to seek their continuing
co-operation in promoting and securing the application of these standards,
adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one
thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven, the following Recommendation, which may
be cited as the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Recommendation, 1957:
The Conference recommends that each Member should apply the
following provisions:
members of tribal or semi-tribal populations in
independent countries whose social and economic conditions are at a less
advanced stage than the stage reached by the other sections of the national
community, and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own
customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations;
members of tribal or semi-tribal populations in
independent countries which are regarded as indigenous on account of their
descent from the populations which inhabited the country, or a geographical
region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or colonisation and
which, irrespective of their legal status, live more in conformity with the
social, economic and cultural institutions of that time than with the
institutions of the nation to which they belong.
For the purposes of this Recommendation, the term semi-tribal
includes groups and persons who, although they are in the process of losing
their tribal characteristics, are not yet integrated into the national
community.
The indigenous and other tribal or semi-tribal
populations mentioned in subparagraphs (1) and (2) of this Paragraph are
referred to hereinafter as the populations concerned.
Legislative or administrative measures should be adopted
for the regulation of the conditions, de facto or de jure, in which the
populations concerned use the land.
The populations concerned should be assured of a land
reserve adequate for the needs of shifting cultivation so long as no better
system of cultivation can be introduced.
Pending the attainment of the objectives of a settlement
policy for semi-nomadic groups, zones should be established within which the
livestock of such groups can graze without hindrance.
Members of the populations concerned should receive the
same treatment as other members of the national population in relation to the
ownership of underground wealth or to preference rights in the development of
such wealth.
Save in exceptional circumstances defined by law the
direct or indirect lease of lands owned by members of the populations concerned
to persons or bodies not belonging to these populations should be restricted.
In cases in which such lease is allowed, arrangements
should be made to ensure that the owners will be paid equitable rents. Rents
paid in respect of collectively owned land should be used, under appropriate
regulations, for the benefit of the group which owns it.
The mortaging of land owned by members of the populations
concerned to a person or body not belonging to these populations should be
restricted.
Appropriate measures should be taken for the elimination
of indebtedness among farmers belonging to the populations concerned.
Co-operative systems of credit should be organised, and low-interest loans,
technical aid and, where appropriate, subsidies, should be extended to these
farmers to enable them to develop their lands.
Where appropriate, modern methods of co-operative
production, supply and marketing should be adapted to the traditional forms of
communal ownership and use of land and production implements among the
populations concerned and to their traditional systems of community service and
mutual aid.
So long as the populations concerned are not in a
position to enjoy the protection granted by law to workers in general,
recruitment of workers belonging to these populations should be regulated by
providing, in particular, for:
licensing of private recruiting agents and supervision
of their activities;
safeguards against the disruptive influence of the
recruitment of workers on their family and community life, including measures:
prohibiting recruitment during specified periods and in
specified areas;
enabling workers to maintain contact with, and participate
in important tribal activities of, their communities of origin; and
ensuring protection of the dependants of recruited
workers;
fixing the minimum age for recruitment and establishing
special conditions for the recruitment of non-adult workers;
establishing health criteria to be fulfilled by workers
at the time of recruitment;
establishing standards for the transport of recruited
workers;
ensuring that the worker:
understands the conditions of his employment, as a
result of explanation in his mother tongue;
freely and knowingly accepts the conditions of his
employment.
So long as the populations concerned are not in a
position to enjoy the protection granted by law to workers in general, the wages
and the personal liberty of workers belonging to these populations should be
protected, in particular, by providing that:
wages shall normally be paid only in legal tender;
the payment of any part of wages in the form of alcohol
or other spirituous beverages or noxious drugs shall be prohibited;
the payment of wages in taverns or stores, except in the
case of workers employed therein, shall be prohibited;
the maximum amounts and manner of repayment of advances
on wages and the extent to which and conditions under which deductions from
wages may be permitted shall be regulated;
work stores or similar services operated in connection
with the undertaking shall be supervised;
the withholding or confiscation of effects and tools
which workers commonly use, on the ground of debt or unfulfilled labour
contract, without prior approval of the competent judicial or administrative
authority shall be prohibited;
interference with the personal liberty of workers on the
ground of debt shall be prohibited.
The right to repatriation to the community of origin, at
the expense of the recruiter or the employer, should be ensured in all cases
where the worker:
becomes incapacitated by sickness or accident during the
journey to the place of employment or in the course of employment;
is found on medical examination to be unfit for
employment;
is not engaged, after having been sent forward for
engagement, for a reason for which he is not responsible;
is found by the competent authority to have been
recruited by misrepresentation or mistake.
Measures should be taken to facilitate the adaptation of
workers belonging to the populations concerned to the concepts and methods of
industrial relations in a modern society.
Where necessary, standard contracts of employment should
be drawn up in consultation with representatives of the workers and employers
concerned. Such contracts should set out the respective rights and obligations
of workers and employers, together with the conditions under which the contracts
may be terminated. Adequate measures should be taken to ensure observance of
these contracts.
Measures should be adopted, in conformity with the law,
to promote the stabilisation of workers and their families in or near employment
centres, where such stabilisation is in the interests of the workers and of the
economy of the countries concerned.
In applying such measures, special attention should be
paid to the problems involved in the adjustment of workers belonging to the
populations concerned and their families to the forms of life and work of their
new social and economic environment.
The migration of workers belonging to the populations
concerned should, when considered to be contrary to the interests of the workers
and of their communities, be discouraged by measures designed to raise the
standards of living in the areas which they traditionally occupy.
Governments should establish public employment services,
stationary or mobile, in areas in which workers belonging to the populations
concerned are recruited in large numbers.
Such services should, in addition to assisting workers
to find employment and assisting employers to find workers:
determine the extent to which manpower shortages
existing in other regions of the country could be met by manpower available in
areas inhabited by the populations concerned without social or economic
disturbance in these areas;
advise workers and their employers on provisions
concerning them contained in laws, regulations and contracts, relating to wages,
housing, benefits for employment injuries, transportation and other conditions
of employment;
co-operate with the authorities responsible for the
enforcement of laws or regulations ensuring the protection of the populations
concerned and, where necessary, be entrusted with responsibility for the control
of procedures connected with the recruitment and conditions of employment of
workers belonging to these populations.
Programmes for the vocational training of the
populations concerned should include provision for the training of members of
these populations as instructors. Instructors should be conversant with such
techniques, including where possible an understanding of anthropological and
psychological factors, as would enable them to adapt their teaching to the
particular conditions and needs of these populations.
The vocational training of members of the populations
concerned should, as far as practicable, be carried out near the place where
they live or in the place where they work.
During the early stages of integration this training
should be given, as far as possible, in the vernacular language of the group
concerned.
Programmes for the vocational training of the
populations concerned should be co-ordinated with measures of assistance
enabling independent workers to acquire the necessary materials and equipment
and assisting wage earners in finding employment appropriate to their
qualifications.
Programmes and methods of vocational training for the
populations concerned should be co-ordinated with programmes and methods of
fundamental education.
During the period of vocational training of members of
the populations concerned, they should be given all possible assistance to
enable them to take advantage of the facilities provided, including, where
feasible, scholarships.
Programmes for the promotion of handicrafts and rural
industries among the populations concerned should, in particular, aim at:
improving techniques and methods of work as well as
working conditions;
developing all aspects of production and marketing,
including credit facilities, protection against monopoly controls and against
exploitation by middlemen, provision of raw materials at equitable prices,
establishment of standards of craftsmanship, and protection of designs and of
special aesthetic features of products; and
The extension of social security schemes to workers
belonging to the populations concerned should be preceded or accompanied, as
conditions may require, by measures to improve their general social and economic
conditions.
In the case of independent primary producers provision
should be made for:
instruction in modern methods of farming;
supply of equipment, for example implements, stocks,
seeds; and
protection against the loss of livelihood resulting from
natural hazards to crops or stock.
The populations concerned should be encouraged to
organise in their communities local health boards or committees to look after
the health of their members. The formation of these bodies should be accompanied
by a suitable educational effort to ensure that full advantage is taken of them.
Special facilities should be provided for the training
of members of the populations concerned as auxiliary health workers and
professional medical and sanitary personnel, where these members are not in a
position to acquire such training through the ordinary facilities of the
country.
Care should be taken to ensure that the provision of
special facilities does not have the effect of depriving members of the
populations concerned of the opportunity to obtain their training through the
ordinary facilities.
The professional health personnel working among the
populations concerned should have training in anthropological and psychological
techniques which will enable them to adapt their work to the cultural
characteristics of these populations.
Scientific research should be organised and financed
with a view to determining the most appropriate methods for the teaching of
reading and writing to the children belonging to the populations concerned and
for the utilisation of the mother tongue or the vernacular language as a vehicle
of instruction.
Teachers working among the populations concerned should
have training in anthropological and psychological techniques which will enable
them to adapt their work to the cultural characteristics of these populations.
These teachers should, as far as possible, be recruited from among such
populations.
Pre-vocational instruction, with emphasis on the
teaching of subjects relating to agriculture, handicrafts, rural industries and
home economics, should be introduced in the programmes of primary education
intended for the populations concerned.
Elementary health instruction should be included in the
programmes of primary education intended for the populations concerned.
The primary education of the populations concerned
should be supplemented, as far as possible, by campaigns of fundamental
education. These campaigns should be designed to help children and adults to
understand the problems of their environment and their rights and duties as
citizens and individuals, thereby enabling them to participate more effectively
in the economic and social progress of their community.
Where appropriate and practicable, intergovernmental
action should be taken, by means of agreements between the governments
concerned, to protect semi-nomadic tribal groups whose traditional territories
lie across international boundaries.
Such action should aim in particular at:
ensuring that members of these groups who work in
another country receive fair wages in accordance with the standards in operation
in the region of employment;
assisting these workers to improve their conditions of
life without discrimination on account of their nationality or of their
semi-nomadic character.
Administrative arrangements should be made, either
through government agencies specially created for the purpose or through
appropriate co-ordination of the activities of other government agencies, for:
ensuring enforcement of legislative and administrative
provisions for the protection and integration of the populations concerned;
ensuring effective possession of land and use of other
natural resources by members of these populations;
administering the property and income of these
populations when necessary in their interests;
providing free legal aid for the members of the
populations concerned that may need legal aid but cannot afford it;
establishing and maintaining educational and health
services for the populations concerned;
promoting research designed to facilitate understanding
of the way of life of such populations and of the process of their integration
into the national community;
preventing the exploitation of workers belonging to the
populations concerned on account of their unfamiliarity with the industrial
environment to which they are introduced;
where appropriate, supervising and co-ordinating, within
the framework of the programmes of protection and integration, the activities,
whether philanthropic or profit-making, carried out by individuals and corporate
bodies, public or private, in regions inhabited by the populations concerned.
National agencies specifically responsible for the
protection and integration of the populations concerned should be provided with
regional centres, situated in areas where these populations are numerous.
These agencies should be staffed by officials selected
and trained for the special tasks they have to perform. As far as possible,
these officials should be recruited from among the members of the populations
concerned.
