Definitive Report - REPORT_NO129, 1972

1. 49. The complaint of the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International is contained in a communication dated 30 September 1971 addressed direct to the ILO. This complaint was supported on 6 October 1971 by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The two communications in question were sent to the Government, which sent its observations thereon in two communications dated 23 December 1971 and 6 January 1972.
2. 50. The Central African Republic has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), as well as the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 51. The complainants allege that Mr. Dieudonné Goute and Mr. Roger Blaise Ouayot, General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary respectively of the PTT Workers' Union, were arrested in December 1970 and have been kept in custody since then without any charge having been brought against them.
2. 52. In its communication of 23 December 1971, the Government stated that the status of Mr. Goute and Mr. Ouayot as trade unionists had never been questioned; it confirmed, however, that these two persons had been arrested, and stated that this was on account of two political reasons, namely: that they had taken advantage of the ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the National Revolution of New Year's Eve 1965 to attempt to cause political disturbances; and that they had convened a meeting without observing the police rules requiring the previous authorisation of the Ministry of the Interior before any demonstration or public meeting is held. " Mr. Goute and Mr. Ouayot " concludes the Government " were therefore arrested by the forces of law and order in accordance with the law of the country."
3. 53. After the Government's communication (analysed in the previous paragraph) was received, a telegram dated 3 January 1972 reached the ILO from the General Union of Workers of the Central African Republic, which is not a complainant in this case. The telegram stated that Mr. Goute and Mr. Ouayot had been released.
4. 54. The Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International, in a communication dated 4 January 1972, informed the Director-General that it had received from the organisation mentioned in the previous paragraph a telegram reporting the release of the persons concerned and inviting the complainants to withdraw their complaint. In its communication dated 4 January 1972, the Postal, Telegraph and Telephone International consequently asked the ILO to suspend any action relating to the case until further information had been received.
5. 55. Finally, in a communication dated 6 January 1972, the Government confirmed that the measure taken against the persons in question had nothing to do with their status as trade unionists. The Government added that, after suitable inquiries had been made, Mr. Goute and Mr. Ouayot had been released and that they were again able to exercise freely their trade union rights.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 56. From the facts available to the Committee, it appears that the persons mentioned in the complaint as having been arrested have now been released and are able once more to exercise freely their trade union activities. The Committee notes, however, that these persons seem to have been detained in prison for about a year without apparently having been tried.
2. 57. In this connection the Committee feels bound to recall the opinion it has expressed on several previous occasions according to which, in every case when trade union leaders are preventively detained, these measures may involve a serious interference with the exercise of trade union rights; the Committee has always emphasised the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment. The Committee also recalls that it has considered that the detention by the authorities of trade unionists concerning whom no grounds for conviction are subsequently found is liable to involve restrictions of freedom of association; in this connection, the Committee has pointed out that governments should take steps to ensure that the authorities concerned should receive appropriate instructions to eliminate the danger which arrest entails for trade union activities.