Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - REPORT_NO346, June 2007

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 113. The Committee last examined this case at its meeting in November 2006 [see 343rd Report, paras 137–139]. On several occasions, it urged the Government to provide, without delay, copies of the two decisions concerning the criminal proceedings that resulted from certain events during the collective labour dispute of 1999 at the AVITEMA farm and charges of “abuse of power” brought against Mr Abderrazak Chellaoui, Mr Bouazza Maâch and Mr Abdeslam Talha.
2. 114. In its communication dated 25 January 2007, the Government indicates that, according to the information gathered from the external offices of the Ministry of Employment, Mr Abderrazak Chellaoui, the owner of AVITEMA, committed suicide in 2006.
3. 115. The Committee duly notes this information. It recalls that the requested decisions concerned charges brought by the workers of the AVITEMA farm against Mr Abderrazak Chellaoui, Mr Bouazza Maâch, a member of the Menzah police, and Mr Abdeslam Talha, a member of the auxiliary police force of Aïn Aouda, for “violence and torture”. Following the inquiries carried out by the criminal investigation department, the Public Prosecutor instituted proceedings against these three persons for “abuse of power”, in accordance with section 231 of the Moroccan Penal Code. The Committee recalls that the absence of judgements against the guilty parties creates, in practice, a situation of impunity, which reinforces the climate of violence and insecurity, and which is extremely damaging to the exercise of trade union rights [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, fifth (revised) edition, para. 52]. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to transmit, as soon as possible, a copy of the decisions involving Mr Bouazza Maâch and Mr Abdeslam Talha.