Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Togo (Ratification: 1983)

Article 5(1) of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government to the Committee on the Application of Standards at 113th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2025). It notes the Government’s commitment to take the necessary measures to ensure that effective tripartite consultations are held on all the matters referred to in Article 5(1) of the Convention. The Committee notes, however, from the minutes of the sessions of the National Council for Social Dialogue (CNDS) from 2020, 2021 and 2022, that the consultations held within that body do not cover the matters set out in Article 5(1) of the Convention and that the Government previously reported the establishment of National Task Force on International Labour Standards (CNIT), the mandate of which included the preparation of technical files for drawing up periodic reports on ILO Conventions and Recommendations, and proposals to ratify relevant unratified Conventions.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure these consultations take place. It further requests the Government to provide detailed information on the holding and results of tripartite consultations organized in respect of the following points: (i) government replies to questionnaires concerning items on the agenda of the International Labour Conference and government comments on proposed texts to be discussed by the Conference; (ii) the submission of Conventions and Recommendations to the competent national authorities for examination; (iii) the re-examination of unratified Conventions and of Recommendations to which effect has not yet been given, to consider what measures might be taken to promote their implementation and ratification as appropriate; (iv) questions arising out of reports on the application of international labour standards; and (v) proposals for the denunciation of ratified Conventions.

The Committee recalls that the Government may seek ILO technical assistance in this regard.

Article 3(1). Free choice of employers’ and workers’ representatives. The Committee welcomes the Government’s commitment to taking all necessary measures to comply with Article 3(1) of the Convention, which requires that the representatives of employers and workers for the purposes provided for in the Convention shall be freely chosen by their representative organizations. It notes that under section 12 of the Labour Code that “the employer or his representative may not employ any means of pressure in support of or against any trade union organization. Any measure taken by the employer (…) shall be considered null and void and subject to penal sanctions and payment of damages”. However, the Committee recalls that section 14 of the same Code provides that “persons may not exercise responsibility for the administration or direction of a union who have received a conviction involving loss of civic rights or a conviction to a correctional penalty, with the exception of: (a) convictions for offences involving imprudence, unless they have also taken flight in that context; and (b) convictions for misdemeanours for which the penalty is not subject to proof of bad faith and which only involve liability to a fine, with the exception of misdemeanours qualified as offences by company laws”. The Committee observes that while section 12 guards against any interference by the employer in the free choice of trade union representatives, the restrictions provided under section 14, reiterated in section 3 of Decree No. 2022-022/PR on the representativeness of trade unions and the exercise of the right to strike in the Republic of Togo – may constitute an obstacle to the free choice required to ensure the representativeness of participants in consultation procedures. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure, in law and practice, the free choice of employers’ and workers’ representatives in conformity with Article 3(1) of the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.