Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143) - Togo (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Article 1 of the Convention. Provision of information. The Committee recalls that in its 1999 General Survey on migrant workers it emphasized that the extent, direction and nature of international labour migration has undergone significant changes since the adoption of the Convention (see paragraphs 5–17 of the General Survey). The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would indicate how contemporary trends in migratory flows have had an impact on the implementation of its national policy and legislation relating to emigration and immigration and to provide information on the questions contained in the report form of the Convention.

2. The Committee notes the statistics contained in the Government’s report in regard to the number of foreigners employed on its territory for 1998 (11); 1999 (9) and 2000 (3, up to 30 June), that with one exception these workers were males and that most of them were highly qualified nationals of European countries (France, Norway and Italy). Noting that Togo is surrounded by Burkina Faso, Benin and Ghana, which are traditionally countries of emigration, and the fact that nationals of these countries do not need a residence permit to settle in Togo, the Committee is of the view that these statistics concern only “expatriates” and do not truly reflect the situation in regard to the presence of foreign workers in Togo. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide statistics on the number of nationals of the Economic Community of West African States working in Togo. Recalling that the Convention applies also to Togolese working abroad, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information, including statistics, on their number.

3. Part II of the Convention (Equality of opportunity and treatment). The Committee notes that the information supplied by the Government in relation to Article 8 of the Convention concerns only foreign workers designated as “expatriates”, who are accorded equal or better treatment than Togolese workers if they lose their employment. Recalling that Article 8 of the Convention is one of the Articles most frequently mentioned by governments during the General Survey conducted in 1999 (paragraphs 577–597), as causing difficulties of application, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information on the application in practice of the principle of systematic non-withdrawal of the authorization of residence or work permit of a migrant worker residing legally in the territory – on loss of his employment – particularly in regard to migrant workers who are not considered to be “expatriates”.