Nepal
In its report, the Committee drew special attention to the case of Nepal concerning the arrest and detention of trade unionists, significant prohibitions on the right to strike of workers engaged in a variety of services, and restrictions on the right of workers to stage peaceful demonstrations and to put up banners.
The Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the Essential Services Act so as to ensure that the power under the Act was limited to prohibiting strikes in essential services in the strict sense. As regards the prohibition on the assembly of more than five persons, while the Government had indicated that the relevant order had been revoked, the Committee recalled that workers should enjoy the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration to defend their occupational interests.
As regards the allegations of violent intervention in a demonstration and arrest and detention of trade unionists, the Committee requested the Government to ensure that authorities resort to force only in situations where law and order are seriously threatened and that the intervention should be in due proportion to the danger which the authorities are attempting to control.
The Committee also drew the attention of the Governing Body to the cases of Guatemala, Venezuela and Zimbabwe among others.
Guatemala
In the case of Guatemala, the Committee examined serious allegations of violence against trade unionists, and dismissal of union leaders followed by employer refusals to comply with reinstatement orders and undue delays in the proceedings. The Committee underlined the gravity of the allegations of assaults, death threats and intimidation of trade union members, and the attacks on trade union headquarters.
The Committee urged the Government to refer these cases urgently to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for offences against trade unionists and to order urgent investigations.
As regards dismissals of trade unionists, the Committee observed in general that judicial orders for reinstatement are often not complied with and that procedures frequently take years. The Committee also urged the Government to revise the procedure for the protection of union rights provided for in law.
Venezuela
In the case of Venezuela, the Committee dealt with allegations of interference by the authorities following trade union elections. It pointed out that it had already on previous occasions objected to the role assigned by the Constitution and legislation to the National Electoral Council in organizing and supervising trade union elections, including the power to suspend elections.
Requesting the Government to refrain from such interference in the future, the Committee recalled that the organization of elections should be exclusively a matter for the organizations concerned and that the power to suspend elections should be given only to an independent judiciary.
Zimbabwe
The Committee also examined two cases concerning Zimbabwe, both of which concerned allegations of anti-union dismissals aimed at high-level trade union officers. The Committee requested the Government to have independent inquiries carried out into these allegations and to ensure that, if the competent body determines that the dismissals were for anti-union reasons, that these trade union leaders would be rapidly reinstated in their functions, or an equivalent position, without loss of pay or benefits.
In another case concerning further allegations of arbitrary arrests and detentions, anti-union intimidation and harassment, the Committee urged the Government to refrain from resorting to such measures. Referring to an atmosphere of intimidation and fear prejudicial to the normal development of trade union activities, the Committee expressed its overall deep concern with the extreme seriousness of the general trade union climate in Zimbabwe, demonstrated by the number of cases of a similar nature which have recently been brought before it.