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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 21/1998
Escalating its pressure on the Nigerian government, the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) has launched a Commission of Inquiry to investigate trade union rights abuses there. Earlier, in unusually strong language, a key ILO committee had voiced "outrage" over Nigeria's continued flouting of internationally recognised labour rights.
The Commission of Enquiry was set up yesterday by the ILO's Governing Body, in which the world's governments, employers and trade unions are represented. Significantly, the commission was established under Article 26 of the ILO Constitution, whose provisions are invoked only in the event of persistent and serious violations of international labour standards and the repeated refusal of a member state to bring its labour practices into line with ILO rulings. Such a commission's findings are final. According to international lawyers, its conclusions can then be challenged only in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has repeatedly called on Nigeria's military-led government to release imprisoned trade unionists, end harassment of trade unions and take measures to guarantee respect for the civil liberties essential to trade union rights. In recent findings, the Committee underscored the persistent deterioration of trade union rights and denounced the non-respect of civil liberties in Nigeria.
In its current session, the Committee expressed its "outrage" at the way in which the Nigerian government has ignored repeated requests to modify its labour regime and allow a special mission into the country to examine the state of trade union rights and visit imprisoned trade unionists.
The Committee said the Nigerian government has repeatedly ignored calls for a mission to examine trade union rights in the country and to visit trade unionists detained without trial, "at least one of whom has been detained for over three years."
This is a reference to Frank Kokori, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Kokori has been held since 1994. His colleague Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, has been in jail since January 1996. Neither has been charged with any offence.
The two Nigerian labour leaders are recognised as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. Their health is reported to be deteriorating. They have been denied access to adequate medical care and legal assistance. Their unions are being run by government-imposed "sole administrators." Union bank accounts have been frozen, and the check-off of union dues has been frozen. Many oilworkers sacked on government orders after the 1994 strike in the Nigerian oil industry have never been reinstated.
World oil conference protest
This is not the first time the Nigerian government has been in trouble at the ILO recently.
Nigeria was seriously embarrassed in full view of the world's oil companies, oil unions and governments last month at an ILO world conference on industrial relations and freedom of association in the oil refining sector.
Conceived as a mainly technical meeting, the conference was in fact completely overshadowed by the cases of Dabibi and Kokori. The two democratically elected oilworkers' leaders had been invited by name to take part in the talks, but the Nigerian government refused to release them so that they could attend.
The workers' group at the conference, consisting of oilworkers' leaders from all continents, was disgusted by the presence of Nigerian government representatives there while the Nigerian oil unions are under government control and their elected leaders are rotting in jail. This was, after all, a UN-backed world conference on how to promote freedom of association in oil refining ...
Coordinating the workers' group was the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the two Nigerian oil and gas unions are affiliated.
The workers' group kept Nigeria at the top of the agenda throughout last month's conference and intensively lobbied government and employer representatives. As a result, the governmental, oil company and oil union delegates to the meeting adopted a formal conclusion referring specifically to the ILO's ongoing Freedom of Association case 1793 (Nigeria) and calling on the ILO Governing Body to resolve problems. Yesterday's Governing Body decision is in part a response to that call from the world's oil industry and governments.
Sanctions call
"The Nigerian government is thumbing its nose at the UN and its specialised agency, the ILO," commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe today. "It is therefore cocking a snook at the world community. The ILO commission must be permitted to enter Nigeria without delay, and Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori must be released now. If not, the only adequate UN response will be the introduction of full economic sanctions against Nigeria, including the imposition of a world embargo on Nigerian oil exports."
In the meantime, Thorpe said, key ICEM affiliates would maintain preparations for targeted international action of their own against Nigerian oil. This readiness includes stepped-up campaigning by oilworkers in the USA, the world's biggest importer of Nigerian crude (see ICEM UPDATE 20/1998). The campaign to free Dabibi and Kokori is supported by the world trade union movement as a whole, including the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which organises seafarers and port workers worldwide.
The Commission of Enquiry was set up yesterday by the ILO's Governing Body, in which the world's governments, employers and trade unions are represented. Significantly, the commission was established under Article 26 of the ILO Constitution, whose provisions are invoked only in the event of persistent and serious violations of international labour standards and the repeated refusal of a member state to bring its labour practices into line with ILO rulings. Such a commission's findings are final. According to international lawyers, its conclusions can then be challenged only in the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has repeatedly called on Nigeria's military-led government to release imprisoned trade unionists, end harassment of trade unions and take measures to guarantee respect for the civil liberties essential to trade union rights. In recent findings, the Committee underscored the persistent deterioration of trade union rights and denounced the non-respect of civil liberties in Nigeria.
In its current session, the Committee expressed its "outrage" at the way in which the Nigerian government has ignored repeated requests to modify its labour regime and allow a special mission into the country to examine the state of trade union rights and visit imprisoned trade unionists.
The Committee said the Nigerian government has repeatedly ignored calls for a mission to examine trade union rights in the country and to visit trade unionists detained without trial, "at least one of whom has been detained for over three years."
This is a reference to Frank Kokori, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Kokori has been held since 1994. His colleague Milton Dabibi, General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, has been in jail since January 1996. Neither has been charged with any offence.
The two Nigerian labour leaders are recognised as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International. Their health is reported to be deteriorating. They have been denied access to adequate medical care and legal assistance. Their unions are being run by government-imposed "sole administrators." Union bank accounts have been frozen, and the check-off of union dues has been frozen. Many oilworkers sacked on government orders after the 1994 strike in the Nigerian oil industry have never been reinstated.
World oil conference protest
This is not the first time the Nigerian government has been in trouble at the ILO recently.
Nigeria was seriously embarrassed in full view of the world's oil companies, oil unions and governments last month at an ILO world conference on industrial relations and freedom of association in the oil refining sector.
Conceived as a mainly technical meeting, the conference was in fact completely overshadowed by the cases of Dabibi and Kokori. The two democratically elected oilworkers' leaders had been invited by name to take part in the talks, but the Nigerian government refused to release them so that they could attend.
The workers' group at the conference, consisting of oilworkers' leaders from all continents, was disgusted by the presence of Nigerian government representatives there while the Nigerian oil unions are under government control and their elected leaders are rotting in jail. This was, after all, a UN-backed world conference on how to promote freedom of association in oil refining ...
Coordinating the workers' group was the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the two Nigerian oil and gas unions are affiliated.
The workers' group kept Nigeria at the top of the agenda throughout last month's conference and intensively lobbied government and employer representatives. As a result, the governmental, oil company and oil union delegates to the meeting adopted a formal conclusion referring specifically to the ILO's ongoing Freedom of Association case 1793 (Nigeria) and calling on the ILO Governing Body to resolve problems. Yesterday's Governing Body decision is in part a response to that call from the world's oil industry and governments.
Sanctions call
"The Nigerian government is thumbing its nose at the UN and its specialised agency, the ILO," commented ICEM General Secretary Vic Thorpe today. "It is therefore cocking a snook at the world community. The ILO commission must be permitted to enter Nigeria without delay, and Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori must be released now. If not, the only adequate UN response will be the introduction of full economic sanctions against Nigeria, including the imposition of a world embargo on Nigerian oil exports."
In the meantime, Thorpe said, key ICEM affiliates would maintain preparations for targeted international action of their own against Nigerian oil. This readiness includes stepped-up campaigning by oilworkers in the USA, the world's biggest importer of Nigerian crude (see ICEM UPDATE 20/1998). The campaign to free Dabibi and Kokori is supported by the world trade union movement as a whole, including the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which organises seafarers and port workers worldwide.