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INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION (ITUC)
Wednesday, 15 September 2010 13:17
INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CORELABOUR STANDARDS IN THE GAMBIA
REPORT FOR THE WTO GENERAL COUNCIL REVIEW OF THE
TRADE POLICIES OF THE GAMBIA
(Geneva, 14 and 16 September, 2010)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Gambia has ratified the eight core ILO Labour Conventions. However
in view of serious and continued violations of fundamental workers’ rights including
the prevalence of child labour, further measures are needed to comply with the
commitments the Gambia accepted at Singapore, Geneva and Doha in the WTO
Ministerial Declarations over 1996-2001, and in the ILO Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its 2008 Social Justice Declaration.
The Gambia has ratified both ILO Conventions on core trade union rights.
Workers have the right to organise in trade unions and collective bargaining is
protected by law. Civil servants and domestic servants are excluded from the right
to organise and strike. In practice the right to organise is generally respected and
collective bargaining takes place, although this does not benefit workers in irregular
employment relationships.
The Gambia has ratified both ILO Conventions on core equality rights.
Discrimination on the grounds of gender, race and disability is prohibited. However,
women still receive less remuneration than their male colleagues and are largely
underrepresented in highly skilled positions. Persons with disabilities and persons
who live with HIV/AIDS face discrimination in employment.
The Gambia has ratified both ILO Conventions on child labour, and child
labour is regulated by the law. However, compliance is poor and child labour,
particularly in its worst forms, is a problem in Gambia. Furthermore labour law
does not cover child labour in family enterprises and farms or in domestic service.
The Gambia has ratified both ILO Conventions on forced labour and it is
prohibited by law. However, trafficking is a serious problem; trafficking victims
usually work as street vendors, sex workers and domestic servants. There has been
no intensive effort to eliminate trafficking up to now.
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INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CORE LABOUR
STANDARDS IN THE GAMBIA
Introduction
This report on the respect of internationally recognised core labour standards in
the Gambia is one of the series the ITUC is producing in accordance with the Ministerial
Declaration adopted at the first Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) (Singapore, 9-13 December 1996) in which Ministers stated: "We renew our
commitment to the observance of internationally recognised core labour standards." The
fourth Ministerial Conference (Doha, 9-14 November 2001) reaffirmed this commitment.
These standards were further upheld in the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by the 174 member
countries of the ILO at the International Labour Conference in June 1998 and in the
Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation adopted unanimously by the ILO in
2008.
The ITUC affiliate in the Gambia is the Gambia Workers’ Confederation (GWC)
which has a membership of 52000 persons covering various areas of employment in the
Gambia.
I. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining
The Gambia ratified Convention No. 87 on the Freedom of Association and
Protection of the Right to Organise, as well as Convention No. 98 on the Right to
Organise and Collective Bargaining, in 2000.
The Labour Act of 2007 allows workers to form and join trade unions, except
domestic servants and civil servants, including prison, military and police personnel. The
law maintains a minimum membership requirement of 50 workers for the registration of a
trade union, which the ILO Committee on Application of Conventions and
Recommendations (CEACR) has stated constitutes an excessive constraint on freedom of
association. Trade unions need to register in order to be recognised and there have been
no rejections of applications for registration up to now. Nonetheless there are a number of
problems with regard to the role of the Registrar, who has the right to verify the accounts
of employers’ and workers’ organisations when he or she is unable to ascertain the
absence of irregularity or fraud. Such a verification process may be initiated without
evidence or complaints noting irregularity in the handling of finances. Failure to provide
the Registrar with any book is subject to a fine and even imprisonment. The Labour Act
also maintains the right of the Registrar to institute civil proceedings in order to secure
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payment of arrears in trade unions, which the ILO CEACR again considers to be an
infringement of matters that should be considered the internal affairs of the union.
The Labour Act protects unions from employers’ interference and employers who
establish trade unions aiming at dominating them are punishable by fine. A court can
order the cancellation of the registration of a workers’ association dominated by an
employer or “any other adequate remedy”.
Anti-union discrimination including dismissals of members of registered unions
for union activities is contrary to the law. The government has intervened to reinstate
workers who have been sacked for union activities.
The Labour Act provides for collective bargaining, which does take place in
formal economic activities. The collective agreements have to be registered at the
Ministry of Labour and remain valid for 3 years. There is a Joint Industrial Council (JIC)
Agreement, which defines guidelines for union activities, and was established by unions
and employers.
At the same time, it should be noted that over 70 per cent of urban employment
takes place in informal economic activities where protection of labour rights is not
enforced by the government.
The right to strike is recognised except for civil service employees. Strikes need
to be officially announced by written notice to the Commissioner of Labour two weeks in
advance. The requirement for strikes in essential services is 28 days. The government has
not yet issued a final list of essential services; however, in the preliminary list it includes
services like radio and telecommunication services which do not fall under the ILO’s
internationally accepted definition of essential services in the strict sense of the term.
Employers can ask courts to prohibit industrial action if its objective is political or if they
are in breach of a collectively agreed procedure for dispute settlement. The law prohibits
retribution against strikers who participate in a legal strike.
There is an export processing zone (EPZ) in Banjul. There are no special laws or
exemptions from regular labour laws in the EPZ.
Workers have the right to organise in trade unions and collective bargaining is
protected by law. Civil servants and domestic servants are excluded from the right to
organise. In practice the right to organise is generally respected and collective
bargaining takes place. The right to strike is recognised but restricted.
II. Discrimination and Equal Remuneration
The Gambia ratified both Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration and
Convention No. 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) in 2000.
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The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, religion, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally seeks to implement these
prohibitions. However, the Labour Bill of 2005 did not set out the principle of equal
remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. The law prohibits sexual
harassment and stipulates a one-year prison sentence for offenders.
In practice women’s wages are less than 50% of those of men as women are
overrepresented in low skilled, low paid jobs. Women are generally employed in food
vending or subsistence farming. Women’s participation in the labour market is lower than
men’s and their literacy rate is 35 per cent, compared to 50 per cent for men. However,
girls are enrolled at a higher rate than boys in primary education and at the same rate as
boys in secondary education. These figures may be lower for girls in rural areas. With
respect to access of women and girls to vocational training and education the government
contests that men and women are trained in certain skills but not in others due to societal
norms. In this way the state reproduces traditional views of women's roles.
The Constitution prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities.
However, many disabled persons subsist primarily on begging to survive, access to
buildings is difficult and, in general, persons with disabilities lack opportunities for
employment. The government has been forcibly removing disabled persons from street
begging.
The law stipulates 5 to 14 years imprisonment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered persons (LGBT) and the President has directly threatened their lives while
calling them to leave the country. It is clear that LGBT persons not only face
discrimination in employment but also endanger their lives if they publicly admit their
sexual orientation.
Societal discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS hinder their
ability to be employed. Four out of 26 transnational companies have deployed HIV/AIDS
workplace policies and programmes. The World Bank has run an HIV/AIDS Rapid
Response Project (WB-HARRP) which included the development of workplace
HIV/AIDS policies and training of personnel to implement HIV/AIDS workplace
programmes.
Discrimination on different grounds in respect of employment and occupation is
prohibited by law. However, gender discrimination occurs as women are paid half the
wages of men and are concentrated in low skilled jobs. Persons with disabilities and
those who live with HIV/AIDS face discrimination in employment.
III. Child Labour
The Gambia ratified Convention No. 138, the Minimum Age Convention in 2000,
and ratified Convention No. 182, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention in 2001.
5
The constitution prohibits economic exploitation of children under 16 years of age
and the legal minimum age for employment in agricultural, industrial or non-industrial
work is 18 years. The Children’s Act prohibits night work, hazardous work, and work
that interferes with a child's education and sets the minimum age for light work at 16
years and for apprenticeship at 12 years. On the other hand, the government declared the
age of 14 as the minimum age for admission to work when it ratified the Minimum Age
Convention in 2000. The conflict between different minimum ages has been raised by the
Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
(CEACR). Working in family farms, domestic service and in family enterprises is not
considered child labour by the law.
Enterprises that employ children should have their child employees registered
with the Labour Commissioner; however, child labour inspections rarely take place. The
Labour Act establishes penalties of imprisonment for up to five years and a fine of
100,000 dalasis (approximately US$3,752) for the breach of the provisions related to the
employment of children. Similarly, the Children’s Act also establishes penalties of
imprisonment and fines for any person who contravenes the provisions related to child
labour.
Although the law provides for free, compulsory education from age 6 to 12, due
to the lack of sufficient schools and other educational infrastructure children have to pay
fees to support their education. According to government’s estimations about 75 per cent
of the children enrol in public primary education and 15 per cent in Islamic educational
institutions.
Despite the above provisions, child labour occurs in the Gambia. The Multiple
indicator cluster survey of 2005-06 revealed that 25 per cent of children aged between 5
and 14 years were involved in some kind of child labour, out of which: 21.1 per cent
worked in family undertakings, 1.8 per cent in domestic service, 3.3 per cent in unpaid
work outside their households and 0.6 per cent in paid work. Most child workers were
performing informal activities such as street vending, serving as taxi and bus assistants or
begging. Urban children between 14 and 17 work as carpenters, plumbers and tailors and
rural children work in family farms. Although Islamic schools used to send children to
beg or work, this practice is now limited because police took measures against teachers
who were obliging children to work or beg to collect money for their fees. There are
reports that child prostitution is increasing, especially close to touristic areas and in
remote guesthouses and motels. The Gambian police have arrested 3 tourists for child
molestation and indecent acts over the last two years and patrols of the Tourism Security
Unit have been considered effective in limiting commercial sexual exploitation of
children in touristic areas.
The Gambia signed in 2005 the Multilateral Cooperation Agreement to Combat
Trafficking in Persons in West Africa.
6
Child labour is regulated by the law. However, compliance is poor and child
labour, particularly in its worst forms, is a problem in Gambia. Furthermore labour law
does not cover child labour in family enterprises and farms or in domestic service.
IV. Forced Labour
The Gambia has ratified both core conventions on forced labour, Convention No.
29 the Forced Labour Convention and Convention No. 105, the Abolition of Forced
Labour, both in 2000.
The Constitution and law prohibit forced or bonded labour and trafficking in
human beings. The penalty for trafficking persons younger than 18 years of age is life
imprisonment and the minimum prison term for trafficking an adult is 15 years. The
Criminal Code provides for sanctions of imprisonment, which may involve an obligation
to perform labour, for holding or expressing political views opposed to the political or
social establishment.
Forced labour as such is not a problem in the Gambia. However, trafficking in
human beings is considered a serious problem by the government. Trafficking victims
usually work as street vendors, sex workers and domestic servants.
The government has taken measures to combat trafficking and provide assistance
to trafficking victims. Every law enforcement agency has anti-trafficking or child
protection units. The government operates a shelter for victims and a 24-hour hotline
number that among other cases deals with trafficking reporting and assistance to victims.
The government provides counseling and trafficking victims can obtain emergency
temporary residence visas. However the authorities are not working intensively to combat
trafficking; in 2009, the law enforcers identified only three persons as trafficking victims
and there has been only one conviction of an individual under the anti-trafficking law.
Forced labour is prohibited by law. However trafficking is a serious problem;
trafficking victims usually end up as street vendors, sex workers and domestic servants.
While the authorities have taken some measures to combat trafficking, there has been no
intensive effort to eliminate trafficking up to now.
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Recommendations
1. The government of the Gambia should provide the right to form unions,
collectively bargain and strike to domestic servants and civil servants.
2. The law should be amended so that the minimum membership requirement of 50
workers for forming a union is significantly lowered or abolished.
3. The Registrar should not have the right to verify the accounts of employers’ and
workers’ associations if there is no evidence or complaint noting irregularity in
the handling of their finances.
4. The Registrar’s right to institute civil proceedings in order to secure payment of
arrears in trade unions, which is a matter of internal affairs, should be revoked.
5. The government should finalise the list of essential services in order to include
services in the strict definition of the term.
6. The government should amend existing legislation so that it includes the principle
of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value,
7. The government should take a range of measures to promote gender equality and
eliminate gender segregation of employment.
8. The government should take measures to prevent employment discrimination
against persons who live with HIV/AIDS, and develop programmes that will
actively improve the employment opportunities of disadvantaged and disabled
persons.
9. The government should lift penalties against LGTB persons and promote equality
in employment for them.
10. The legislation on the minimum age for admission to work should be clarified and
brought in line with the Convention on Minimum Age.
11. The scope of child labour legislation should be extended to children working in
family farms, domestic service and family enterprises so that they are covered and
protected by the law. The government should urgently start random, unannounced
inspections targeting child labour.
12. The government should take measures to make education free of fees, or at least
subsidise children of poor families.
13. The authorities should continue the prosecutions of teachers of Islamic schools
that force children into work or begging.
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14. The Criminal Code should be cleared of sanctions of imprisonment which involve
an obligation to perform labour.
15. The authorities should work intensively to combat trafficking by performing more
controls and by consulting victims to uncover offenders.
16. The government should build up its law enforcement and judicial capacities in
order to monitor and enforce its laws against child labour, forced labour and
trafficking and start punishing those who commit such crimes.
17. In line with the commitments accepted by the Gambia at the Singapore and Doha
WTO Ministerial Conferences and its obligations as a member of the ILO, the
government of the Gambia should provide regular reports to the WTO and the
ILO on its legislative changes and implementation of all the core labour
standards.
18. The WTO should draw to the attention of the authorities of the Gambia to the
commitments they undertook to observe core labour standards at the Singapore
and Doha Ministerial Conferences. The WTO should request the ILO to intensify
its work with the government of the Gambia in these areas and provide a report to
the WTO General Council on the occasion of the next trade policy review.
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References
Education International (EI), Barometer of Human & Trade Union Rights in Education,
The Gambia, 2007
Gambia Bureau of Statistics, UNICEF, World Bank, The Gambia Multiple indication
cluster survey, 2005/2006:
http://www.childinfo.org/mics/mics3/archives/gambia/survey0/data/Reports/MICS3_Ga
mbia_FinalReport_2006_Eng.pdf
ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
(CEACR), Reports, Individual Observations, general Observations and Direct Requests,
2007-2010
ILO, Ratification of Core Labour Standards
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Linking Work, Skills and
Knowledge: Learning for Survival and Growth,”
http://www.oitcinterfor.org/public/spanish/region/ampro/cinterfor/newsroom/resenas/200
2/interlak.pdf
United States Department of Labor, 2008 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor -
The Gambia, 10 September 2009
United States Department of State, 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices –
The Gambia, 11 March 2010
United States Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 – The Gambia, 16
June 2009
World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2009
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