Eritrea - 2012

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Population: 5,254,000
Capital: Asmara
In spite of what is enshrined in the labour law, there is no freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and no free collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
in this totalitarian state. National service is used as a means of subjecting citizens to forced labour.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973)

reported violations - 2012

Murders: none reported
Attempted Murders: none reported
Threats: none reported
Injuries: none reported
Arrests: none reported
Imprisonments: none reported
Dismissals: none reported
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

Eritrea marked 20 years of independence in 2011, but the totalitarian regime remained as repressive as ever. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in early 2011 that 220,000 Eritreans, about 5% of the population, had fled. Freedom of expression is still firmly suppressed and four more journalists were imprisoned in 2011. In July, a UN report accused Eritrea of being behind a plot to attack an African Union summit in Ethiopia in January.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973)
Population: 5,254,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations- 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

Labour law is governed by Labour Proclamation No 118, which gives workers the right to form unions. Unions are not allowed in the armed forces and the police. In addition, civil servants not involved in state administration do not have the right to organise until the draft Civil Service Proclamation is passed. Furthermore, the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare must grant special approval for groups of 20 or more workers seeking to form a union.

Collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
and strikes are allowed and industrial disputes are resolved by a tripartite board composed of workers, employers and Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare officials.

Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973)
Population: 5,254,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

No freedom of association, no collective bargaining: No political or civic organisations are permitted except those controlled by President Isaias’s People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). There is no freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework : all unions - including the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers (NCEW) and its affiliates - are kept under close scrutiny by the totalitarian government. Non-governmental public gatherings of over seven persons are prohibited. In practice, there is no free collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
.
Forced labour: By law, all able-bodied adult Eritreans must perform 18 months of national service. In practice, national service is routinely prolonged indefinitely, extending for much of a citizen’s working life. Pay is barely sufficient for survival. Recruits are used as cheap labor for civil service jobs, development projects, the ruling party’s commercial and agricultural enterprises and projects that personally benefit civilian and military leaders. Another use for these workers is in the gold mines, often run by western companies who sub-contract much of the work – construction, food products, transportation, banking, even some drilling – to local companies, which inevitably means government-owned companies. Female recruits have reported sexual abuse by higher-ranking officers.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973)
Population: 5,254,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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