Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1988)

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers and employers without distinction whatsoever, to establish organizations of their own choosing. Registration procedures. The Committee previously noted that section 102 of the Labour Code provided that an order of the Minister in charge of labour shall determine the modalities and conditions for the registration of trade unions and employers’ organizations. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that the Ministerial Order No. 11 of 7 September 2010 determines the modalities and requirements for the registration of trade unions and employers’ organizations. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of this Ministerial Order.

Articles 3 and 10. Right of organizations to freely organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. On previous occasions the Committee noted that there were no legislative provisions referring to the recognition and conditions governing the right to strike of public servants other than servants exercising authority in the name of the State. The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, the Act on General Statutes for Public Servants is being revised and that full legislative expression has been given to public servants’ rights to organize and collective bargaining. The Committee hopes the revised text will take duly into account its comments and requests the Government to provide a copy of the Law upon its adoption.

Finally, with regard to the Ministerial Order No. 04 dated 13 July 2010 establishing the “indispensable services” and the conditions of exercising the right to strike in these activities, the Committee notes that section 11, paragraph 2, determines that “For public interest and the health of the population, the Authorities may stop the workers and the employers from exercising the strike or lock-out”. In this respect, the Committee recalls that the right to strike may be restricted or prohibited only when it is related to “essential services” in the strict sense of the term, i.e. services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, in the public service only for servants exercising authority in the name of the State, or in situations of acute national or local crisis (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work in light of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, 2008, paragraphs 129, 130, 131, 132, 133 and 140). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 11, paragraph 2, of the Ministerial Order in order to bring it into conformity with the requirements of the abovementioned principles and to provide information on any development of this legislative process.