The CFA was set up in 1951 to examine complaints about violations of freedom of association. It is an organ of the Governing Body composed of an independent chairperson and six representatives each from the Government group, the Employers’ group and the Workers’ group, all appointed in their personal capacity. In over 60 years of operation, the CFA has examined over 3,300 cases.
The mandate of the Committee is to determine whether any given legislation or practice complies with the principles of freedom of association and collective bargaining laid down in the relevant Convention. Paras 13 and 14 of Annex I, Compilation.
If you wish to pursue this option, neither the consent of the Government nor ratification of relevant ILO Conventions are required.
Checklist for allegations
You will need to make sure you can answer yes to the following questions:
Is the complaint addressed to the ILO Director-General at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva? Submission through regional ILO offices, while receivable, may delay processing.
□ Yes □ No
Is the complaint directed to the ILO in writing?
□ Yes □ No
Is the complaint dated and does it include the permanent address (for correspondence) of the complainant?
□ Yes □ No
Does the complaint clearly say that its intent is to lodge a complaint with the CFA against a Government?
□ Yes □ No
Complaint must come from an employers’ or workers’ organization:
(a) Does the complainant have consultative status with the ILO (ie., ITUC or WFTU for workers) or is an international organization whose affiliated organizations are affected by the allegations?
□ Yes □ No
(b) Is the complainant a national organization (an organization with full national coverage) having a direct interest in the matter?
□ Yes □ No
(c) If the complainant is not a national organization (it has a more limited coverage, for example municipal or provincial), is the organization affiliated to or have the support of a national or international organization under (a) or (b) above?
□ Yes □ No
(d) Is the complainant a registered organization? If the complainant is not a registered organization, it is important to explain why in the complaint, and to indicate whether it has the support of a national or international organization under (a) or (b) above.
□ Yes □ No
(e) If the complainant organization is in exile, has been dissolved or has failed to satisfy the national administration of its lawful existence, to enable the CFA to consider whether the complaint is receivable, has the complainant provided relevant information on its membership, statutes/bylaws, and national/international affiliations, and stated whether a national or international organization under (a) or (b) above supports the complaint?
□ Yes □ No
Complaint should not be purely political in character.
Does the complaint contain allegations of infringements of freedom of association or the right to collective bargaining, or of human rights violations relating to the exercise of trade union rights?
□ Yes □ No
The freedom of association Conventions do not need to be ratified:
- By membership of the ILO, each member State is bound to respect a certain number of principles, including the principles of freedom of association, regardless of ratification of the freedom of association Conventions.
National remedies do not need to have been exhausted:
- The CFA determines in each case individually the importance of this general principle.
- The existence of a national appeal procedure should be taken into account. If an administrative or judicial appeal concerning the issues raised in the complaint has been filed, it is important to indicate the outcome of the appeal proceedings and provide a copy of the decision. If there has not been a decision yet, you should send the decision as soon as it is issued.
- If an administrative or judicial appeal concerning the issues raised in the complaint has not been filed, it is important to explain why in the complaint.
Is the complaint signed by an officer of the organization or a person authorized to take such action under the statutes of the organization or by a person holding power of attorney to act on behalf of the organization?
□ Yes □ No
- An “entitled representative” does not include, e.g. a clerical assistant to the president or a lower-level official of the organization.
- If the complaint is signed by a lawyer, it is important to attach to the complaint the power of attorney given by the organization.
- While faxed and scanned complaints may be receivable, electronic mails on their own are not receivable, as they cannot be signed.
Content of complaints: Checklist
Are the facts giving rise to the complaint described in detail?
□ Yes □ No
- It is important to present chronologically the events and identify the persons or institutions involved.
- When describing the facts, is important to respond to basic questions such as: who, where, when, why.
Complaint should be fully supported by evidence. Evidence may include administrative or judicial decisions, pictures, press reports and other appropriate media.
Is the information in support of the complaint as complete as possible?
□ Yes □ No
Are the relevant provisions of national legislation listed? (optional, although provided translations will expedite the process when the original is not in a working language of the ILO)
□ Yes □ No
Other relevant information (optional):
(a) In the country is there a tripartite committee for the handling of complaints, established in the framework of the ILO technical assistance?
□ Yes □ No
(b) If yes, it is important to explain in the complaint if the matters raised in the complaint been brought before it.
□ Yes □ No
Summary (optional):
- At the end of the complaint, it is important to summarize the request made to the CFA in a concise and clear manner.
Examination by default
If a government does not provide its observations concerning the allegations made by the complainant, or the additional information requested from it by the CFA, an urgent appeal may be made to the government for this purpose.
If the government does not send its observations following the urgent appeal, the CFA may then proceed to examine the complaint by default.
Urgent cases
Matters involving human life or personal freedom, or new or changing conditions affecting the freedom of action of a trade union movement as a whole, cases arising out of a continuing state of emergency and cases involving the dissolution of an organization, are treated as cases of urgency. Priority of treatment is also given to cases on which a report has already been submitted to the Governing Body (Para. 54 of Annex I, Compilation).
In urgent cases, the CFA:
-
Deals with the case on a priority basis [See timeline below];
- Is authorized to make appropriate recommendations for the protection of the parties concerned during the entire period that the case remains under consideration.
In light of the criteria noted above, the complainant should clearly state the reasons that may justify the urgency in the handling of the case.
Specific measures taken by the CFA
On-the-spot missions: At various stages in the procedure, there may be recourse to direct contacts whereby a representative of the ILO Director-General – either an independent person or an ILO official – is sent to the country concerned in order to ascertain the facts relating to a case and to seek solutions.
- Direct contacts may occur either during the examination of the case or at the stage of the action to be taken on the recommendations of the Governing Body.
- Direct contacts can only be made at the invitation of the governments concerned, or at least with their consent.
After receiving complaints of a particularly serious nature, and after having received the prior approval of the Chair of the CFA, the ILO Director-General may appoint a representative whose mandate would be to carry out preliminary contacts.
Possible purposes of preliminary contacts are:
- To transmit the concern to which the events described in the complaint have given rise to the competent authorities in the country;
- To explain to those authorities the principles of freedom of association involved;
- To obtain an initial reaction from the authorities, as well as any comments and information with regard to the matters raised in the complaint;
- To explain to the authorities the special procedure in cases of alleged infringements of trade union rights, and in particular the direct contacts method which may subsequently be requested by the government in order to facilitate a full appraisal of the situation by the CFA and the Governing Body;
- To request and encourage the authorities to communicate as soon as possible a detailed reply containing the observations of the government on the complaint.
On certain occasions, and after several examinations of the case, the CFA may ask the government concerned to accept a tripartite mission to assist in resolving the outstanding issues.
Hearing of the parties
The Committee will decide, in the appropriate instances and taking into account all the circumstances of the case, whether it should hear the parties, or one of them, during its sessions so as to obtain more complete information on the matter (Para. 69 of Annex I, Compilation).
A hearing may exceptionally occur if:
- The complainants and the government have submitted contradictory statements on the substance of the matters at issue;
- In cases in which the CFA considers it useful to have an exchange of views on certain matters with the government concerned and the complainants in order to understand the facts, examine the possibilities for solving the problems and seek conciliation;
- In other cases where particular difficulties have arisen in the examination of questions involving the implementation of its recommendations;
- In light of the urgent nature of the issues and a lack of cooperation by the Government in the process.
Other rules
Prescription
Despite no formal rules fixing any particular period of prescription in the procedure for examining complaints, the CFA has acknowledged that it may be difficult for a government – if not impossible – to reply in detail to allegations regarding matters which occurred a long time ago. It may then decide not to examine the complaint.
Withdrawal of complaints
When the CFA has been asked to withdraw a complaint, it has always considered that it alone is competent to freely evaluate the reasons to explain the withdrawal and to try to establish whether they are plausible -- so that it may be concluded that the withdrawal is made in full independence. Requests for withdrawal must come from the complainant organization concerned.
Requests for the postponement of the examination of cases
Regarding requests for the postponement of the examination of cases by the complainant or the government, the CFA makes its decision after evaluating the reasons given for the request and taking into account the circumstances of the case.
Impact
Once the CFA has examined the case, it normally makes a report on the case with conclusions and recommendations. The report is given to the Governing Body for its approval.
As part of the conclusions and recommendations, the CFA may bring an aspect of a case to the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR). This occurs only where the relevant freedom of association Convention has been ratified.
The CEACR will then follow up the outstanding issues related to the Convention until the requested action has been taken and the issue of compliance has been resolved.
Nature of CFA reports
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Definitive: The CFA may determine in its conclusions and recommendations that the case calls for no further examination, where no violation of freedom of association is found or where the issues have been resolved or the CFA states a principle or provides guidelines to be followed. This case will then be closed.
- Interim: The CFA may issue an interim report with interim conclusions and recommendations, where the government concerned is asked to take specific action or to provide additional information to assist the CFA in examining the case further. The government may also be asked to remedy aspects of the case and report back to the CFA on the measures which have been taken.
The CFA normally re-examines the case when it receives the government and/or complainant’s additional information. It will issue an urgent appeal if it has not received the information requested from the government after two postponements.
After the re-examination, the CFA may make new interim conclusions and recommendations in light of any new information provided and continue to keep the case under full examination.
- Follow-up: The CFA may make conclusions asking that it be kept informed of developments -- where it wants to follow the action taken by the government to implement its recommendations until all outstanding issues have been resolved.
Download the timeline showing the handling of both normal and urgent cases.