Interim Report - Report No 233, March 1984

1. 580. The Bahrain Workers' Union submitted a complaint of violation of trade union rights in Bahrain in a communication dated 27 May 1983. The Government forwarded its reply to the complaint in a communication dated 19 December 1983.
2. 581. Bahrain has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No 87) or the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 582. In its communication dated 27 May 1983, the Bahrain Workers' Union alleges that a number of trade unionists have either been arrested, detained, interrogated or tortured by the Government for carrying out trade union activities.
2. 583. The complainant alleges more specifically that Mr. Abdallah Addawi and Mr. Majid Abd Ali Almadi, both members of the Joint Committee of the Association of Aluminium Workers of Bahrain (ALBA), were detained on 14 March and 13 January 1983 respectively, and interrogated before being released. It adds that another member of the Joint Committee, Mr. Adnan Assaid Kazem, was detained, tortured, threatened and forced to resign from office as Vice-President of the General Union of Bahrain Workers. According to the complainant, this action reduced the number of workers' representatives on the Joint Committee to only five, and therefore, the workers are underrepresented in the Committee.
3. 584. The complainant attaches to the complaint several reports and documents relating to the trade union situation in Bahrain. According to it the Government does not observe the 1976 Labour Law (Decree Law No. 23). It also claims that various labour laws of Bahrain are not in conformity with the principles of freedom of association and the right to organise.

B. The Government's reply

1. 585. In its communication of 19 December 1983, the Government states that the allegations concerning the arrest, detention, interrogation and torture of worker representatives is totally untrue, no such incidents having ever taken place.
2. 586. As to the specific allegations concerning the three named representatives of the Joint Committee of the Association of Aluminium Workers, the Government states that the complaint is incorrect and misleading since the persons concerned were, as private citizens and not as trade unionists, assisting the police in an investigation into other matters.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 587. The Committee notes that the complainant organisation alleges the general failure of the Government of Bahrain to respect trade union rights, and more specifically the detention, interrogation, torture and ill-treatment of three named trade union leaders who were also members of the Joint Committee of the Association of Aluminium Workers of Bahrain.
2. 588. The Committee takes note of the Government's general denial of the allegations of detention, interrogation, torture or any ill-treatment of trade unionists or worker representatives of Joint Committees. As regards the specific allegation that three named trade unionists, Mr. Abdallah Addawi, Mr. Majid Abd Ali Almadi and Mr. Adnan Assaid Kazem were arrested, detained, interrogated or tortured, and in one case even forced to resign from office as Vice-President of the Bahrain Workers' Union because of their trade union activities, the Committee notes the Government's reply that the complaint is incorrect and misleading since the persons concerned were, as private citizens, and not as trade unionists, assisting the police in an investigation into other matters.
3. 589. In the absence of more specific information as the reasons for the arrest and detention of the three trade unionists named by the complainant, the Committee can only recall that the arrest and detention of trade unionists constitute particularly serious measures which should be accompanied by all appropriate safeguards, in particular judicial ones. While persons engaged in trade union activities, or holding trade union office, cannot claim immunity in respect of ordinary criminal law, trade union activities should not in themselves be used by the public authorities as a pretext for the arbitrary arrest or detention of trade unionists. The detention or internment of trade unionists, especially trade union leaders, for reasons connected with their activities to defend the interests of workers constitutes a serious violation of civil liberties in general and trade union rights in particular. [See, in this respect, 214th Report of the Committee, Case No. 1097 (Poland), para. 747.]
4. 590. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to supply more detailed information concerning the arrest and detention of the three trade unionists in question, and the specific reasons therefore.
5. 591. As regards the allegation that various provisions of the labour law fail to conform with the principles of freedom of association, the Committee recalls that it has already examined similar allegations made by the same complainant organisation in Case No. 1043. [211th Report, paras. 572-590 and 230th Report, paras, 35-43.] The Committee would once again draw the attention of the Government to the conclusions it reached in that case concerning, in particular, several articles of Orders Nos. 9 and 10 of 1981, which, in the view of the Committee, conflict with the generally accepted principles of freedom of association concerning free election of trade union leaders and the free functioning of workers' organisations. It accordingly asks the Government to re-examine its legislation in this regard with a view to bringing it into conformity with the principles of freedom of association.