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The Committee notes the Government’s report and regrets to observe that it contains only the text of a collective agreement. It further notes the comments submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on 10 August 2006, which refer mainly to issues previously raised by the Committee and also alleges that the export processing zone (EPZ) is exempt from the labour laws. The Committee hopes that a report will be supplied that contains full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Violence against trade unionists and repression of trade union rights. In its last comments, the Committee had noted that the Committee on Freedom of Association, in Case No. 1843, examined in March 1998, had referred to numerous arrests and detentions frequently followed by acts of torture against trade unionists, as well as acts of interference by the Government in trade union activities. In this respect, the Committee notes that the last comments of the ICFTU indicate that trade unionists have been the subject of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture. The Committee deplores that the Government’s report does not contain any information on these serious issues and recalls that trade union rights cannot be exercised in the absence of respect for human rights. Considering the gravity of these allegations, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee the personal safety of trade unionists and ensure respect of the rights enshrined in the Convention and to answer to the comments made by the ICFTU.

Article 4. 1. The Committee recalls that it had observed on many occasions that section 16 of the Industrial Relations Act of 1976, and also section 112 of the new Labour Code, allowed referral of a collective dispute or a collective labour dispute to compulsory arbitration and had requested the Government to take measures to amend the legislation so that arbitration may only be compulsory with the agreement of both parties or in the case of essential services. The Committee, once again, requests the Government to take measures to amend the legislation in this sense so as to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

2. The Committee notes that the comments made by the ICFTU indicate that collective bargaining is nearly non-existent in Sudan and that salaries are set by a government-appointed and controlled tripartite body. The Committee observes with concern that the Government limits itself to providing a copy of a collective agreement and requests the Government to answer to these comments and to send information on the application of the right of collective bargaining in practice, including the number of existing collective agreements as well as the sectors and workers covered.

3. The Committee stresses the gravity of these matters and expresses the hope that the Government will address all its attention to the abovementioned matters.