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The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Articles 6 and 10 of the Convention. Status of labour inspection staff and number of inspectors. The Committee notes that, in reply to its previous comments, two new labour officers have been recruited to the positions of Assistant Chief Labour Officer and Senior Labour Officer and it is planned to continue filling the numerous vacant posts. The Government also indicates that inspection staff have been granted the status of senior public servants and placed on the GS 7 and GS 9 salary scales. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of the relevant legal texts as well as information so that a comparison can be made of the status and salary of labour inspectors with those of other public servants with comparable responsibilities, such as tax inspectors and treasury officials. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to keep the ILO informed of any changes in the number of officials responsible for labour inspection and to specify in particular the number, position and geographical distribution of those responsible for supervising the workplaces covered by the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would specify the grades and duties of women employed in the labour inspectorate.

Articles 11 and 16. Material and logistical resources of the labour inspectorate. The Committee notes that, despite the financial constraints of the Department of Labour, 649 inspections were carried out in 2004. However, it notes with concern that, due to the climate of violence, the labour inspectorate is unable to ensure a presence in workplaces situated in certain regions that are particularly dangerous for carrying out inspections or conducting investigations. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate how it ensures that labour inspection offices are accessible to workers and employers in each region and specify the geographical distribution of the transport facilities made available to labour inspectors to carry out inspections of workplaces, as well as the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that, in accordance with Article 16, workplaces are inspected as often and as thoroughly as necessary. The Government is also requested to indicate the measures that it intends to take to ensure the safety of inspection staff in the regions affected by the climate of violence towards public servants in order to guarantee the protection of workers against violations by employers of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work.

Articles 17 and 18. Legal proceedings against offending employers. The Committee notes the information provided on the number of legal proceedings instituted against employers for infringements relating to the protection of registers, dismissal notices and the payment of redundancy pay, paid leave, overtime and salaries. Referring to Article 18 of the Convention, which provides that penalties applicable to those committing a violation should be adequate and effectively enforced, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide copies of court decisions in cases concerning these types of violations, as well as information on the procedures for their effective enforcement.

Article 21. Content of the annual inspection report. The Committee notes the provision, within the time limits prescribed by Article 20, of the annual report for 2004 of the Industrial Relations Department of the Ministry of Labour. However, it notes once again that information such as the number of industrial and commercial workplaces liable to inspection and the number of workers employed therein (Article 21(c)), which is essential for evaluating the extent to which the Convention is applied, is not always available. In addition, statistics of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease (Article 21(f) and (g)) have never been provided, which makes it impossible to assess the work of the labour inspectorate in the area of occupational safety and health. The Committee strongly hopes that the Government will not fail to take the necessary measures quickly, in particular by calling for the cooperation of other competent public and private institutions, in particular the tax services, to establish a register of workplaces liable to inspection to enable each inspection service to plan its interventions with a view to prevention, while continuing to respond to specific requests. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would also take measures to ensure that, in accordance with Article 14 of the Convention, labour inspectors are notified of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease so that, on the one hand, they are in a position to identify the occupational risks inherent in the various activities carried out in the workplaces liable to inspection and to take appropriate preventive action and, on the other, that they are able in turn to provide relevant information to the central inspection authority for the purposes set out in the Convention. Finally, the Committee invites the Government to draw the attention of the central labour inspection authority to the valuable guidance provided in Part IV of Recommendation No. 81 on the manner in which the information required by Article 21 could be presented in order to reflect usefully the labour inspectorate’s work in practice.