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The Committee notes with regret that no report has been received from the Government.

The Committee also notes with concern the report of the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 1851 concerning serious violations of freedom of association against several members of the Djibouti Inter-Trade Union Association of Labour/General Union of Djibouti Workers (UDT/UGTD) (see the 304th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association approved by the Governing Body in May-June 1996.) The Committee urged the Government to take measures as soon as possible to lift the severe penalties imposed following protest strikes against the Government's economic and social policy.

The Committee recalls that its previous comments also concerned the need to repeal or amend the following provisions:

- section 5 of the Act on Associations, as amended in 1977, to abolish prior authorization for the establishment of trade unions by specifying that the Act does not apply to trade unions;

- section 6 of the Labour Code, which limits the holding of trade union office to Djibouti nationals, in order to allow foreigners to hold trade union office, at least after a reasonable period of residence in the country;

- section 23 of Decree No. 83099/PR/FP of 10 September 1983 establishing the conditions governing the right to organize and the right to strike of public servants, which confers on the President of the Republic the power to requisition public servants who are indispensable to the life of the nation and to the operation of essential services, in order to restrict this power of requisitioning to cases in which, in the Committee's opinion, the restrictions or prohibitions of the exercise of the right to strike are admissible, namely those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population or in the event of an acute national crisis.

The Committee, like the Committee on Freedom of Association, requests the Government to take measures in the near future to bring its legislation and practice into conformity with the requirements of the Convention and to inform it of progress made in this matter.

[The Government is requested to provide a detailed report in 1997.]