Definitive Report - Report No 147, 1975

1. 91. The complaint of the General Federation of Jordan Trade Unions (Damascus) is contained in communications dated 3 and 23 December 1973, addressed to the Director-General of the ILO. The Government transmitted its comments in two communications dated 8 February 1974.
2. 92. Israel has ratified both the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 93. In their letter of 3 December 1973, the complainants state that four persons, members of the Union of Public Establishment Workers of Ramallah in the West Bank area of Jordan, now under Israeli occupation, namely, Adnan Abdulfattah, Mahmoud Sheikh Abdulfattah, Mohammed Albaghdadi and Nijmeh Ahmad Ayyash, were arrested in November 1973 by the Israeli authorities.
2. 94. In their letter of 23 December 1973 the complainants name the following eight persons who were alleged to have been transferred to the Eastern Bank area of Jordan by the Israeli authorities: Arabi Moussa Ayyad, worker; Shaker Mohammed Abu Hejleh, teachers' union; Walid Qamhawi, doctors' union; Hussein Mohammed Jarour, lawyers' union; Abdelmuhsen Abu Meizar, member of the High Islamic Council; Abdul Jawad Saleh, President of the Municipality of Al Beireh; Dameen Hassan Odeh, Secretary of the Building and Establishment Union; Jeryes Awwad Kawwas, teachers' union.
3. 95. The Government replied that the four persons named by the complainants as Ramallah trade unionists were detained for investigation on 6 November 1973, on suspicion of belonging to terrorist organisations and of activities prejudicial to public security. They were released on the day following their arrest. The investigatory detention, says the Government, lasted exactly one day and had no connection whatsoever with trade union affiliation or activities.
4. 96. As regards the persons transferred to the Eastern Bank area of Jordan, the Government states that they were arrested and transferred because of activities related to breaches of public security and maintaining contacts with subversive terrorist organisations. The Government declares that this action was taken on grounds of public security under the Defence (Emergency) Regulations, 1945, and had no relation whatever to trade union affiliation or activities.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 97. The Committee notes that whereas five of these persons are trade union members, and one of them a trade union leader, the other three seem to have no connection with trade unions. The Committee also notes that the allegations do not contain particulars about the circumstances surrounding the action complained of or as to any connection which might exist between such action and the trade union affiliation or activities of the persons concerned. The Government, for its part, maintains that these persons were dealt with under the law and that the action taken against them was not connected with their trade union affiliations or activities in any way.