CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received.

In its last observation, the Committee had noted the comments on the application of the Convention submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). In those comments, the ICFTU indicates that, despite the fact that freedom of association is recognized by law in Niger, there are legal restrictions to this freedom in the private and public sectors. The ICFTU also indicates that 95 per cent of the workers are employed in the rural or the urban informal economies and are not unionized and refers to threats of dismissals against workers for trade union activities.

The Committee recalls that Article 4 of the Convention provides that measures appropriate to the national conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations. It also recalls that the protection afforded to workers and trade union officials against acts of anti-union discrimination constitutes an essential aspect of freedom of association (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 202). In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to send its observation on the comments made by the ICFTU and hopes that the Government will make every effort to submit its report in the very near future.