Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Djibouti (Ratification: 1978)

Article 1 of the Convention. Protection against acts of anti-union discrimination. The Committee notes the Government’s communication, in response to the allegations made in 2019 by the Labour Union of Djibouti (UDT) and the General Union of Djibouti Workers (UGTD), and by Education International (EI), concerning the persistence of anti-union discrimination in the education and rail transport sectors. The Committee notes in particular the Government’s indication that decisions must be taken to discontinue criminal proceedings against the teachers who had been arrested in 2019 in the context of the case of the Baccalaureate exams, and that most of the railway workers concerned following the 2019 social conflict have been reintegrated into their posts. With regard to the transfers described as “punitive”, concerning the leaders of the teachers’ trade unions, the Government denies the allegations, however. Noting that the information brought to its knowledge does not provide a definitive reply to all the allegations presented by EI, UDT and UGTD, and recalling the obligation, under the terms of the Convention, to ensure that workers are adequately protected against anti-union discrimination, the Committee requests the Government to take the measures required to ensure full respect of Article 1 of the Convention in the above-mentioned activity sectors.

Article 4. Right of collective bargaining in practice. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report concerning the draft inter-occupational collective agreement, which was examined and approved unanimously in September 2020, by the members of the National Council for Labour, Employment and Social Security (CONTESS). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard, and on the total number of collective agreements signed and in force in the country, the sectors concerned and the number of workers covered by these agreements.