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Repetition The Committee notes the observations made by the Confederation of Public and Private Sector Workers (CTSP), received on 31 August 2016, by which it reiterated most of the issues raised previously, indicating that, even though some state efforts to increase the coverage of the insurance have been visible, these were focused on the capital city, leaving apart the people living in rural areas. The Committee notes that on 15 September 2015 the Confederation of Public and Private Sector Workers (CTSP) provided its observations concerning the application of the Conventions under examination. The CTSP indicates that the affiliation of employers to the Employment Injury, Sickness and Maternity Insurance Office (OFATMA), although a legal obligation, is a reality in practice for less than 5 per cent of workers. In the specific case of agricultural workers, the CTSP considers that it is necessary to take urgent measures to extend effective coverage by the OFATMA, as they represent the majority of workers in the country and produce 30 per cent of the gross domestic product, and yet they remain without any social protection. The Committee is fully aware that the Government indicated in its last report that the Act of 28 August 1967, establishing the OFATMA, covers all dependent workers irrespective of their sector of activity, but that the absence of formal agricultural enterprises means that most agricultural workers are engaged in family subsistence agriculture and are excluded from the scope of the social security legislation. Nevertheless, the Committee observes that the application of the existing legislation appears to give rise to difficulties, even with regard to workers in the formal economy. Moreover, the sickness insurance scheme has never been established, even though the Government has indicated that it is pursuing its efforts to establish progressively a sickness insurance branch covering the whole of the population and to enable OFATMA to regain the trust of the population. With a view to better assessing the challenges facing the country in the application of the social security Conventions and providing better support for the initiatives taken in this respect, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information in its next report concerning the functioning of the employment injury scheme administered by OFATMA (numbers covered, amount of contributions collected annually, number of employment accidents and occupational diseases recorded, amount of benefits paid for employment injury). Please include information on strategies for increasing participation in and utilization of OFATMA services by the eligible populations. International assistance. The Committee notes that the Government is receiving substantial support from the ILO and the international community, particularly in the field of labour inspection. Moreover, since 2010, the ILO and the United Nations system as a whole have made available to the Government their expertise for the establishment of a social protection floor. The Committee considers that it is necessary for the Government to envisage as a priority the establishment of mechanisms to provide the population as a whole, including informal workers and their families, with access to essential health care and a minimum income when their earnings capacity is affected as a result of sickness, employment accident or occupational disease. In this regard, the International Labour Conference adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation (No. 202) in 2012, with a view to the establishment of basic social security guarantees to prevent and alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. In this connection, the implementation of Conventions and of Recommendation No. 202 should continue in parallel, seeking and exploiting synergies and complementarity. The Committee recalls that the establishment of a social protection floor was included by the Haitian Government as one of the elements of the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti, adopted in March 2010. However, the Government has not yet provided any information on the measures adopted to achieve this objective. The Committee notes, among other matters, the conclusion in 2010 of a national programme for the promotion of decent work which includes an item dedicated to the establishment of the social protection system under the social security Conventions ratified by Haiti. Conclusions and recommendations of the Standards Review Mechanism. The Committee notes that, at its 328th Session in October 2016, the Governing Body of the ILO adopted the conclusions and recommendations formulated by the Standards Review Mechanism Tripartite Working Group (SRM TWG), recalling that Conventions Nos 17, 24, 25 and 42 to which Haiti is party are outdated and charging the Office with follow-up work aimed at encouraging States party only to these Conventions to ratify the following instruments as they represent the most up-to-date standards: – As regards employment injury: the Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121) and/or the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) and accept the obligations in its Part VI. – As regards medical care and sickness benefit: the Medical Care and Sickness Benefits Convention, 1969 (No. 130) and/or the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), and accept the obligations in its Parts II and III.
Repetition The Committee notes that on 15 September 2015 the Confederation of Public and Private Sector Workers (CTSP) provided its observations concerning the application of the Conventions under examination. The CTSP indicates that coverage of employment injury is extremely weak in the context of an informal economy which represents 90 per cent of the national economy. The affiliation of employers to the Employment Injury, Sickness and Maternity Insurance Office (OFATMA), although a legal obligation, is a reality in practice for less than 5 per cent of workers. In the specific case of agricultural workers, the CTSP considers that it is necessary to take urgent measures to extend effective coverage by the OFATMA, as they represent the majority of workers in the country and produce 30 per cent of the gross domestic product, and yet they remain without any social protection. The Committee is fully aware that the Government indicated in its last report that the Act of 28 August 1967, establishing the OFATMA, covers all dependent workers irrespective of their sector of activity, but that the absence of formal agricultural enterprises means that most agricultural workers are engaged in family subsistence agriculture and are excluded from the scope of the social security legislation. Nevertheless, the Committee observes that the application of the existing legislation appears to give rise to difficulties, even with regard to workers in the formal economy. Moreover, the sickness insurance scheme has never been established, even though the Government has indicated that it is pursuing its efforts to establish progressively a sickness insurance branch covering the whole of the population and to enable OFATMA to regain the trust of the population. With a view to better assessing the challenges facing the country in the application of the social security Conventions and providing better support for the initiatives taken in this respect, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information in its next report concerning the functioning of the employment injury scheme administered by OFATMA (numbers covered, amount of contributions collected annually, number of employment accidents and occupational diseases recorded, amount of benefits paid for employment injury). Please include information on strategies for increasing participation in and utilization of OFATMA services by the eligible populations. International assistance. The Committee notes that the Government is receiving substantial support from the ILO and the international community, particularly in the field of labour inspection. Moreover, since 2010, the ILO and the United Nations system as a whole have made available to the Government their expertise for the establishment of a social protection floor. The Committee considers that it is necessary for the Government to envisage as a priority the establishment of mechanisms to provide the population as a whole, including informal workers and their families, with access to essential health care and a minimum income when their earnings capacity is affected as a result of sickness, employment accident or occupational disease. In this regard, the International Labour Conference adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation (No. 202) in 2012, with a view to the establishment of basic social security guarantees to prevent and alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. In this connection, the implementation of Conventions and of Recommendation No. 202 should continue in parallel, seeking and exploiting synergies and complementarity. The Committee recalls that the establishment of a social protection floor was included by the Haitian Government as one of the elements of the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti, adopted in March 2010. However, the Government has not yet provided any information on the measures adopted to achieve this objective. The Committee notes, among other matters, the conclusion in 2010 of a national programme for the promotion of decent work which includes an item dedicated to the establishment of the social protection system under the social security Conventions ratified by Haiti. Recalling that the Office’s technical assistance, coordinated with that of the United Nations system as a whole, has been made available to the Government, the Committee invites the Government to provide information on this subject in its next report.
Repetition General situation. According to the Government’s report, the Act of 28 August 1967 establishing the Employment Injury, Sickness and Maternity Insurance Office (OFATMA) covers all dependent workers, regardless of the sector of activity. With regard to the agricultural sector, the report specifies that, while agricultural workers are not excluded by the Act, they cannot benefit because of the predominance of family farming and the absence of agricultural enterprises. The Committee also notes that over 95 per cent of the active population in Haiti is engaged in the informal economy. The Committee also notes that under the 1967 Act, the OFATMA currently manages employment injury insurance, but that it has still not been possible to set up a sickness insurance scheme.In this context, the initiatives indicated by the Government mainly address the training of labour inspectors and the construction of two hospitals in the north and south of the country. The Committee also notes the Government’s statements that it plans to continue its efforts, on one hand to progressively establish a sickness insurance branch covering the population as a whole and, on the other to enable the OFATMA to regain the trust of the population. The Committee takes due note of these points. In order to better assess the challenges facing the country in the application of the social security Conventions and support the initiatives taken in this regard more effectively, the Committee requests the Government to provide further information in its next report on the reasons for the population’s loss of trust in the OFATMA, and to provide key figures on the operation of the employment injury insurance scheme administered by the OFATMA (numbers covered, amount of contributions collected annually, number of employment accidents and occupational diseases recorded, amount of benefits paid for employment injury).International assistance. The Committee notes that the Government’s actions receive substantial support from the ILO and the international community, particularly in terms of labour inspection. In addition, since 2010, the ILO and the whole of the United Nations system have made available to the Government their expertise for the establishment of a social protection floor. The Committee also notes that Better Work, a joint ILO and International Finance Cooperation programme, operating in the textile sector in Haiti with a view to improving both working conditions and productivity, has noted that the failure to pay social security employment injury and old-age pension contributions was a widespread phenomenon in the textile industry and it prioritized this issue. Through targeted actions and, in particular, the organization of information meetings of the National Old-age Insurance Office (ONA) in the enterprises concerned, Better Work, in its biannual report of October 2012, noted a significant improvement in the payment of social security contributions to the ONA and the OFATMA. The Committee invites the Ministry of Labour and the OFATMA to take these targeted actions regarding contributions into consideration with a view, where appropriate, to their replication in other sectors of the formal economy in Haiti.Regarding the establishment of a social protection floor, the Committee considers that it is necessary for the Government to envisage as a priority establishing mechanisms to provide the population as a whole, including informal workers and their families, with access to essential health care and a minimum income when their earnings capacity is affected. In this respect, the Committee emphasizes that, in order to provide guidance to States where the social security systems are facing difficulties in light of the national economic and social situation and to guarantee respect for the right of everyone to social security, the International Labour Conference adopted the Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202), with a view to the establishment of all the basic social security guarantees to prevent and alleviate poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. In this connection, the implementation of Conventions Nos 12, 17, 24, 25 and 42 and of Recommendation No. 202 should continue in parallel, seeking and exploiting synergies and complementarity.The Committee recalls in this regard that the establishment of a social protection floor has been included by the Haitian Government as one of the elements of the Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti, adopted in March 2010. However, since then this objective appears not to have led to the development of a national policy on the subject. Recalling that the Office’s technical assistance, coordinated with that of the United Nations system as a whole, has been made available to the Government, the Committee invites it to provide information in its next report on the initiatives taken with a view to establishing a social protection floor.
The Committee notes that in the interests of increasing the capacity of the social security agencies, particularly the Insurance, Occupational Accident, Sickness and Maternity Office (OFATMA), the Ministry of Social Affairs convened a discussion forum for directors of the social security agencies. Thanks to these discussions, the weaknesses of the social security institutions were pinpointed and a number of solutions identified for enabling them to function properly. Although data on the incidence of the occupational diseases referred to in the Convention are not yet available at the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Labour Inspection Service is being restructured and given fresh impetus, so it should be possible to obtain a picture of how effect is given to the Convention in practice. The Committee welcomes the Government’s efforts and invites it to continue to keep the Committee informed of the difficulties met in practice in operating the mechanisms for recognition of occupational diseases and compensating them.
The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:
The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report to the effect that the OFATMA, the institution responsible for employment accident and occupational disease insurance, is endeavouring to make its inspection service more effective, to keep up to date a national register of protected workers, to gather reliable statistical data on the number and nature of the cases reported throughout the territory, to register the number of employment injuries and to take measures for their compensation.
The Committee takes due note of this information. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures taken by the OFATMA to obtain reliable data on the number and nature of the occupational diseases reported. In these conditions, the Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide statistical data in its next report on the number of workers engaged in the trades, industries and processes included in the Schedule to Article 2 of the Convention, the cases of diseases reported and the sums paid by way of compensation, in accordance with Part V of the report form. Such data are indispensable to assess the manner in which effect is given to the Convention in practice.
The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.
The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report. It hopes that the next report will contain information on progress made in establishing an infrastructure for gathering information on the practical application of the Convention, in accordance with point V of the report form approved by the Governing Body.
The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received for the third consecutive time. It therefore hopes that a report will be supplied for examination at its next session and that it will contain information on the measures taken or contemplated, with technical assistance from the ILO if necessary, to establish in due course an infrastructure which, inter alia, will gather information, including statistics, on the practical application of the Convention, in accordance with point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body.
With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received for the second year in succession.
It therefore hopes that a report will be supplied for examination at its next session and that it will contain information on the measures taken or contemplated, with technical assistance from the ILO if necessary, to establish in due course an infrastructure which, inter alia, will gather information, including statistics, on the practical application of the Convention, in accordance with point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body.
The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:
In reply to the Committee's previous comments, the Government states that it has taken note of the lack of machinery for prevention, supervision and follow-up and collection of statistical data on occupational diseases and the number of workers in high-risk occupations and industries. The Government states that there are no technical staff specializing in occupational diseases to set up such machinery and refers to the need for ILO technical assistance in this area. The Committee takes note of this information. It hopes that, in due course, appropriate measures will be taken, with technical assistance from the ILO if necessary, to establish an infrastructure which, inter alia, will gather information, including statistics, on the practical application of the Convention, in accordance with point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body.
In reply to the Committee's previous comments, the Government states that it has taken note of the lack of machinery for prevention, supervision and follow-up and collection of statistical data on occupational diseases and the number of workers in high-risk occupations and industries. The Government states that there are no technical staff specializing in occupational diseases to set up such machinery and refers to the need for ILO technical assistance in this area.
The Committee takes note of this information. It hopes that, in due course, appropriate measures will be taken, with technical assistance from the ILO if necessary, to establish an infrastructure which, inter alia, will gather information, including statistics, on the practical application of the Convention, in accordance with point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body.
The Committee notes that the Government's report received in February 1991 contains no new information in reply to its previous comments. The Committee cannot but express once again the hope that the Government, with ILO technical assistance if necessary, will be able to provide, with its next report, statistics of the number of workers employed in the trades, industries and processes in the schedule to Article 2 of the Convention, the cases of sickness reported and the sums paid by way of compensation, in accordance with point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body on this Convention.
The Committee notes that the Government's reports contain no reply to its previous comments. However, it notes with interest that the International Labour Office has conducted a number of technical co-operation missions in Haiti and that, in the reports it prepared for the Government, it recommended that a detailed statistics programme be implemented (protected persons, beneficiaries, benefits, receipts, expenditure). In this connection, the Committee notes the Statistical Yearbook for 1987-88 of the Office of Industrial Accidents, Sickness and Maternity (OFATMA). The Committee hopes that, with ILO technical assistance, the Government will be able to report separately on the cases of occupational diseases and that it will be in a position to provide other information on the application of the Convention, in practice, particularly statistics of the number of workers employed in the trades, industries and processes in the schedule to Article 2 of the Convention, the cases of sickness reported and the sums paid by way of compensation, in accordance with Point V of the report form adopted by the Governing Body on this Convention. [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1991.]