Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1977)

In reply to the Committee's previous observation, the Government indicates, as it did in its 1987 report, that due to the prevailing situation in rural areas (lack of roads, hospitals, schools, etc.) it is neither appropriate nor practical to establish a system of labour inspection in agriculture as laid down in the Convention. The Government adds that the inspection services that are required for the few enterprises that exist in the agricultural sector can be provided by inspectors from the neighbouring urban district who will apply the General Labour Act and its regulations and, as regards workers engaged for the sugar-cane or cotton harvests, Supreme Decree No. 20255 of 26 May 1989, which establishes the rights and duties of these workers. In this connection, the Committee recalls, as it did in its 1985 General Survey that, although inspection services can be competent for all sectors of activity, including agriculture, "the prime objective of Convention No. 129 is to guarantee that, where laws and regulations governing working conditions and the protection of workers in agriculture exist and are enforceable by labour inspectors, all the undertakings without any exception should be covered by the system of inspection" (paragraph 57). The Committee therefore requests the Government to supply detailed information on how effect is given to the provisions of the Convention, and particularly to provide statistics on the subjects set out in Article 27 of the Convention (unless this information is included in the annual inspection report established in accordance with Article 20 of Convention No. 81).