Interim Report - Report No 254, March 1988

1. 474. The International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) presented a complaint of violations of trade union rights against the Government of Bahrain, in a communication dated 3 June 1987. The Government supplied its observations on the complaint in a letter dated 6 January 1988.
2. 475. 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. 476. In its communication of 3 June 1987, the ICATU alleges that the authorities of Bahrain do not allow any form of trade union organisation and the so-called "Workers' Association" in Bahrain is far from being authentic workers' representation because it is only for tripartite representation to the International Labour Organisation.
2. 477. According to the ICATU, the Government also practises repression against workers. It alleges that the authorities have recently launched a massive campaign against workers and trade unionists, many of whom have been imprisoned. The ICATU states that, in addition to violations of trade union rights and freedoms, these authorities constantly violate human rights, deny workers the right to work and put them through interrogation regardless of appeals from international bodies and from their relatives. It requests that appropriate measures be taken for the immediate release of imprisoned workers and trade unionists.
3. 478. The ICATU supplies a large amount of documentation in support of its complaint, including lists of political prisoners. First, it annexes a paper criticising the system of workers' representation created by virtue of sections 142 to 144 of the Bahraini Labour Law and the regulating legislation made thereunder. Workers' representatives from the various joint committees set up in each workplace make up the General Committee of Bahrain Workers whose role is, according to the ICATU, confined to consultation and advice in labour disputes or where there are production problems. The complainant supplies copies of the Legislative Decrees and Ministerial Orders governing the joint committees (No. 20 of 16.6.1982; Order No. 9 of 18.4.1981, No. 15 of 25.7.1981, Nos. 19 and 20 of 1.11.84) and the General Committee of Bahrain Workers (No. 10 of 8.4.1981), as well as a copy of the statutes of the General Committee of Bahrain Workers.
4. 479. Secondly, the complainant lists the alleged violations of human and trade union rights carried out by the security forces, in particular their "special section": during 1981, the arbitrary arrest of 550 persons and the statutory possibility of continued detention without trial for up to three years; torture - including crushing the head in a vice, beating, burning, electric shocks, deprivation of sleep, attacks by police dogs, use of vinegar and salt on wounds - and ill-treatment - isolation, rape threats - of prisoners; arrests during strikes and demonstrations; censure imposed by the 1979 Act on Printed Publications; the hasty trial (within 24 hours) of detainees under the 1984 Act on Summary Procedure.
5. 480. The ICATU cites the particular example of the arrest, in March 1980, of a group of persons who were tried at the Mahret Maritime Military Base and sentenced to prison terms of four to seven years for belonging to a banned trade union organisation. The organisation was, according to the complainant, the Constitutive Committee of the Federation of Bahrain Workers which had had public contacts with the Minister of Labour in 1979.
6. 481. The ICATU also supplies a list of persons allegedly under arrest since 13 July 1986 which includes the President of the General Committee of Bahrain Workers in the Aluminium Company (ALBA), Mr. Ibrahim Al Kassab.

B. The Government's reply

1. 482. In its letter of 6 January 1988, the Government refutes as untrue and misleading the unsubstantiated allegations made. It considers that they are wholly without foundation in each of the instances cited, particularly concerning alleged acts of infringements of human rights, repression, wrongful imprisonment and denial of the right to work of which no instances have occurred whatsoever.
2. 483. Concerning workers' representation, the Government refers to its approved policy for the further strengthening and progressive development of joint bargaining, due regard being afforded to the need to overcome the existing weak character of employers' and workers' organisations by appropriate training in industrial relations and related subjects. According to the Government, implicit in this policy is the establishment of the existing joint committees of workers at establishment level, and of the General Committee of Bahrain Workers, as accredited freely elected voluntary organisations representative of workers' interests, the primary purpose of which is the regulation of relations between workers and employers.
3. 484. In this connection, the Government refers to earlier correspondence in 1982 and 1983 relating to cases against Bahrain mentioned in Case No. 1043 and Case No. 1211, in which the Committee on Freedom of Association recommended that the circumstances called for no further examination.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 485. As regards the allegations concerning arrests, detentions and torture of workers and trade unionists, the Committee notes that it has had occasion in the past to consider such allegations against the Government of Bahrain (see Case No. 1211, 233rd and 234th Reports of the Committee, paras. 580 to 592 and 39 to 45 respectively, approved by the Governing Body in February and May 1984, respectively). In that past case, the Committee took note of the Government's general denial of detention and torture and its specific reply concerning the treatment of three named members of the Joint Committee of the Association of Aluminium Workers of Bahrain (ALBA). At that time it recalled 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. Moreover, 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.)
2. 486. In the present case the Committee observes that, although much of the documentation supplied by the complainant refers to political prisoners and thus falls outside this Committee's scope, details are given on the arrest, since 13 July 1986, of a named workers' representative, Mr. Ibrahim Al Kassab, in the ALBA Aluminium Company (which, given the translation from Arabic, appears to be the same undertaking referred to above in the context of Case No. 1211). While noting the Government's general denial in the present case of all of ICATU's allegations, the Committee feels bound to draw the Government's attention to the importance it attaches to bringing detainees to trial swiftly in all cases, irrespective of the reasons put forward by governments for prolonging detentions because such detentions may involve serious interference with trade union rights (see, for example, 236th Report, Cases Nos. 1157 and 1192 (Philippines), para. 298).
3. 487. Similarly, as regards the specific allegation of the sentencing of workers to long prison terms for merely belonging to the Federation of Bahrain Workers, a banned trade union organisation, the Committee observes that the Government's reply amounts to a general denial and assertion that part of its official policy is to overcome the "existing weak character of employers' and workers' organisations". The Committee notes that an earlier case against the Government of Bahrain (Case No. 1043, 211th Report, paras. 572 to 590, 218th Report, paras. 482 to 505, and 230th Report, paras. 35 to 43, approved respectively by the Governing Body at its November 1981, 1982 and 1983 Sessions) also involved the sentencing of trade unionists at the El-Mahret Maritime Military Base to which the Government replied with directly contradictory information, as in the case presently before the Committee.
4. 488. The Committee would accordingly adopt the same position as it took in the earlier case when neither party to the complaint submits evidence to substantiate its version of the facts; it limits itself to recalling generally the importance of prompt and fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary in all cases, including cases in which trade unionists are charged with political or criminal offences which the governments consider to have no relation to their trade union functions. (See, for example, 187th Report, Case No. 892 (Fiji), para. 289; 208th Report, Case No. 940 (Sudan), para. 271.)
5. 489. As regards the legislative aspect of this case, the Committee observes that sections 142 and 143 of the 1976 Labour Law as amended and Ministerial Orders Nos. 9 and 10 of 1981 were thoroughly examined during its consideration of Case No. 1043 referred to above. The Committee's conclusion at the time - while it was silent as to type of workers' representation set up, i.e. joint committees at the undertaking level and an elected central General Committee of Bahrain Workers - was that certain election procedures involved the risk that such workers' representatives might not be elected freely. It also criticised the imposition of arbitration for the settlement of labour disputes which effectively prohibited strike action. It requested the Government to amend the legislation on these various points. These conclusions were endorsed when the Committee examined Case No. 1211 also mentioned above.
6. 490. In the present case, the Committee notes that the complainant centres its allegations on the authenticity of the current workers' representation set up under the legislation in question. This system can be described briefly as the election from workers' members of establishment-level joint committees to the General Committee of Bahrain Workers. This national body is empowered "to raise the productive capacity of the workers, to look after their interests and to improve their national and social situation" (s. 2 of Ministerial Order No. 10 of 1981 and s. 143 of the Labour Law); it also has the special task of "representing the workers of Bahrain before Arab, international and Gulf organisations and congresses in which Bahrain is availed of tripartite representation assured by Government, employers and workers" (s. 5(2) of Order No. 10) and "representing the wage earners of Bahrain on the Higher Council for Occupational Training and on tripartite councils and commissions on which Government, employers and workers are represented by virtue of the Labour Law for the private sector and the Social Security Code" (s. 5(3) of Order No. 10).
7. 491. Since the complainant in the present case limits itself to criticising the election procedure and role of the General Committee of Bahrain Workers as set out in the legislation, the Committee would repeat - as it did in Case No. 1043 - that a legislative system in which the workers of a country are unable to form trade union organisations of their own choosing is contrary to the principles of freedom of association. The Committee therefore again expresses the firm hope that the legislation in question will be amended so as to establish clearly the right of all workers to form the organisations of their own choosing. It requests the Government to keep it informed of any measures taken in this direction.