Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1964)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. It also notes the observations of the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers (CLTM), received on 12 June 2019, as well as the information provided by the Government in reply to these observations, received on 21 October 2019.

Part II of the Convention. Progressive abolition of fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit. The Committee notes the Government's indication that there are currently no private or fee-charging employment agencies in the country, and that prior authorization by order of the Minister of Labour is required to open a private employment agency in Mauritania. The Government also indicates that some private employment agencies that were operating illegally were reported in 2017 in Nouakchott, but they were immediately closed by the General Labour Directorate and their files forwarded to the relevant public prosecutors. The Government also indicates that no other newly opened private or fee-charging employment agency has been reported to the Labour and Employment Administration. The Committee notes the CLTM's observations that employment agencies conducted with a view to profit should be limited in time, pending the establishment of public employment agencies, which should be subject to monitoring by the competent authorities in order to eliminate the abuse of which workers are often victims. The CLTM alleges a lack of transparency in the recruitment of workers by for-profit employment agencies, indicating that intermediary structures such as unofficial employment agencies benefit from the indifference, and even from the complicity of the authorities, and make it possible to deceive workers. The CLTM mentions in particular the case of domestic workers who were allegedly mistreated, abused and considered as slaves after being recruited by an employment agency to work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In its reply to the CLTM's observations, the Government indicates that job placement in Mauritania is regulated by the Labour Code and may also be subject to regulation by decree. It notes that under Decree No. 2005-02, the National Agency for the Promotion of Youth Employment (ANAPEJ) is the public institution responsible for job placements in the labour market, subject to certain derogations. Act No. 2009-025 and its implementing Decree No. 066-2011, which regulate private surveillance activities, guarding and cash transportation, provide, inter alia, that placements under this workforce category are exclusively the responsibility of enterprises that were federated under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior into a single institution entitled the “Mauritanian Private Security Institution”. In addition, Decree No. 2014-172, which establishes the special employment conditions of port workers, provides that one way of using dockworkers may be through their supply by companies hiring port labour. In this regard, Order No. 2017-732 limited the number of accreditations to one company per port in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou for an interim period of three years. The Government also specifies that the employment and placement conditions for foreign workers are set out in Decree No. 2018-025. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, in September 2019, it undertook an implementation study of a mechanism regulating private placements, based on a study carried out in 2018, which concluded that the absence of such a structure was causing lasting damage to the labour market. The Committee notes that the Government does not reply to the CLTM's observations alleging that domestic workers recruited by an employment agency to work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were subjected to conditions of slavery. In this regard, the Committee notes the concerns expressed by the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CRM), at its 308th meeting on the initial report of Mauritania, that, according to the information available to the Committee, "about 900 women working in the Gulf countries are victims of trafficking". (CMW/C/SR.308, 11 April 2016, paragraph 7; see also the concluding observations on the initial report of Mauritania, CMW/C/MRT/CO/1, 31 May 2016, paragraph 30)." The Committee recalls that the member States which have ratified Convention No. 96 and which, like Mauritania, have accepted Part II of the Convention, are bound to progressively abolish fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit. It also recalls that the ILO Governing Body invited States parties to Convention No. 96 to consider the possibility of ratifying, where relevant, the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181). The ratification of this Convention, which recognizes the role which private employment agencies may play in a well-functioning labour market, would ipso jure involve the denunciation of Convention No. 96. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the outcome of the study undertaken on the implementation of a mechanism regulating private placements. It also requests the Government to forward information on any activities of the private employment agencies and any prospects to ratify the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181).

Application of the Convention (Part V of the report form). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of Convention No. 96 in practice and on infringements of regulations in force, identified during labour inspections and the penalties imposed, as well as on any other measures taken or envisaged with a view to protecting workers against any abuse, particularly concerning recruitment and placement abroad.