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Part II. Progressive abolition of fee-charging employment agencies. The Committee notes the detailed report provided by the Government in September 2007 recalling that section 12 of the Labour Code prohibits any person from charging fees for having placed an unemployed person or for having facilitated him acquiring a job in any type of work. The Committee also notes Decision No. 77 of 2002, of the Secretariat of the General Popular Committee, appended to the Government’s report, concerning provisions on the placement of jobseekers. Section 4 of the 2002 Decision states that companies and associations concerned with jobseekers shall be allowed to provide, against payment, work opportunities for national and migrant workers. The Government also indicates that national workers have not frequented such companies because there are employment offices attached to the General People’s Committee for Manpower which are free of charge. The Committee recalls that Members which ratify Convention No. 96 and which, like the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, accept Part II of the Convention, undertake to abolish fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit. It recalls that the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ratified Convention No. 96 on 20 June 1962 and is therefore under an obligation to abolish fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit. The Committee accordingly draws the Government’s attention to the fact that the provisions regarding private employment agencies contained in Decision No. 77 of 2002, do not give effect to the obligations set out in the Parts of Convention No. 96 that have been accepted by the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Revision of Convention No. 96 and protection of migrant workers. The Committee recalls that, in March 2006, a Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration has been published by the ILO which includes non-binding principles and guidelines for a rights-based approach to labour migration. In particular, it provides for the licensing and supervision of placement services for migrant workers in accordance with the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), and its Recommendation No. 188. Convention No. 181 recognizes the role played by private employment agencies in the functioning of the labour market. The ILO Governing Body invited the State parties to Convention No. 96 to contemplate ratifying, as appropriate, Convention No. 181, the ratification of which would involve the immediate denunciation of Convention No. 96 (document GB.273/LILS/4(Rev.1), 273rd Session, Geneva, November 1998). The Committee invites the Government to keep it informed of any developments which, in consultation with the social partners, might occur to ensure the full application of the relevant international labour standards for the placement and recruitment of workers abroad (Article 5, paragraph 2(d), of Convention No. 96).

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2009.]