Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation) Convention, 1925 (No. 19) - Cabo Verde (Ratification: 1987)

The Committee notes that a new Labour Code has been adopted in 2007 according to which foreign workers, their families or dependants, who have been victims of occupational accidents, are granted the same treatment in respect of compensation as the nationals of Cape Verde (section 18(1)). The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, despite the introduction of the new Labour Code, the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 84/78 establishing compulsory insurance for industrial accidents, is still applicable. The Committee notes that section 3(1) of the Legislative Decree is contrary to the Labour Code because it establishes that foreign workers who exercise professional activities in Cape Verde are treated as national workers on the basis of reciprocal agreements. Furthermore, section 3(3) is also contrary to the provisions of the Labour Code because it excludes foreign workers from the scope of the Decree when they are temporarily employed in Cape Verde by a foreign enterprise.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, in practice, foreign workers, including those temporarily employed in Cape Verde, can benefit from the compulsory insurance for occupational accidents. The Government indicates that a complete revision of the issue of industrial accidents has been initiated and that the final text shall be submitted to the Committee as soon as it is adopted. The Committee hopes that, in revising its legislation on industrial accidents, the Government amends sections 3(1) and (3) of Legislative Decree No. 84/78 in conformity with section 18(1) of the Labour Code in order to ensure a better application of Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes that the Government still does not have any statistical data concerning occupational accidents. It trusts that the Government will be in a position to transmit such information with its next report indicating, as far as possible, the number and nationality of foreign workers employed in the country, the number of those involved in occupational accidents, in particular in the construction sector where, according to the Cape Verde Confederation of Free Trade Unions (CCSL), many occupational accidents occur.