Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1962)

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:

Article 4 of the Convention. The general weekly rest scheme under section 58 of the Labour Code of 2001 provides for: (a) an obligatory weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours per week; and (b) in principle, a weekly rest day on Sunday. Section 58 of the new Labour Code of 2001 no longer permits the Minister of Labour to authorize exceptions to the ordinary weekly rest scheme, as did section 131, paragraph 2, of the old Labour Code of 1976. The Committee wishes to recall that, under Article 4 of the Convention, exceptions require the authorization of the national authority, special regard being had to all proper humanitarian and economic considerations and after consultation with responsible associations of employers and workers. The Committee would appreciatet if the Government would provide in its next report detailed information on any cases requiring an exception to the general weekly rest scheme with regard to the weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours, including the handling of those cases. The Committee is particularly interested in information on the tripartite consultations, which would have taken place.

Part III of the report form. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the supervision of the application of the Convention, in particular with regard to the organization and working of the labour inspection.

Part V of the report form. The Committee would appreciate receiving with the Government’s next report statistics concerning the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation as well as the number and nature of any contraventions of the Convention reported.

Finally, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, based on the conclusions and proposals of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body has decided that the ratification of up to date Conventions, including the Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14), and the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106), should be encouraged because they continued to respond to current needs (see GB.238/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraphs 17–18). The Committee accordingly invites the Government to contemplate ratifying Convention No. 106 and to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken or envisaged in this respect.