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GB.274/LILS/9/1
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Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards |
LILS |
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NINTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Other questions (1)
Interim report of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers: Allegations submitted by teachers' organizations
1. At its 271st Session (March 1998), the Governing Body took note of the report on the Fourth Special Session (1997) of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART).(2) At the request of the Governing Body, the report was forwarded to the International Labour Conference at its 86th Session (June 1998), where it was examined by the Committee on the Application of Standards. The Conference approved the report of the Committee, which noted the Joint Committee's report.(3)
2. Modifications in its working methods proposed by the Joint Committee in its 1997 report(4) concern an improvement in the procedure for the treatment of allegations emanating from teachers' organizations on non-observance of the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation's provisions. The Joint Committee proposed that, in addition to the procedures previously adopted in 1994, the following method be used to ensure a timely response to allegations, some of which concern quite acute difficulties in the Joint Committee's opinion:
(2) that, in the event that the final draft of a report on an allegation which has been received since the end of the last Session is prepared more than one year prior to the next scheduled meeting of the full Joint Committee, the working party of the Joint Committee be authorised to transmit that report, as the report of the Joint Committee, for consideration by the Governing Body of the ILO and the Executive Board of UNESCO, provided that it has been approved by the Joint Committee;
In this way, the Joint Committee felt that it could respond better to help governments and teachers' organizations find solutions to the difficulties on a more timely basis than once every three years, the normal interval between its sessions.
3. In accordance with this procedure, the Working Party on Allegations of the Joint Committee has completed its examination of an allegation submitted by the Czech and Moravian Trade Union of Workers in Education (CMOS PŠ) in 1997 concerning the non-observance of certain provisions of the Recommendation in the Czech Republic. The allegation had been initially examined at the 1997 session. At that time the Joint Committee considered that there had been insufficient time for the Government of the Czech Republic to respond to its request for observations on the allegations. It recommended that the Governing Body of the ILO and the Executive Board of UNESCO: take note that further consideration of the allegations was postponed until such information was provided, or a reasonable time had elapsed as set out under the allegations procedures; invite the Government of the Czech Republic to send its observations as soon as possible; and request the Government and the CMOS PŠ to keep the Joint Committee informed of further developments, with such information to be reviewed in accordance with approved procedures.
4. The Working Party's report on its examination of the allegations and observations submitted by the Government and the CMOS PŠ has been approved by the Joint Committee. Since the report comes more than one year prior to the next scheduled session, to be hosted by the ILO in 2000, the Joint Committee's Working Party on Allegations submits the attached report for consideration to the Governing Body. The report will also be submitted to the 156th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO (May 1999).
5. The Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards may wish to recommend that the Governing Body --
(a) take note of the interim report of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers relating to an allegation on the non-observance of certain provisions of the Recommendation in the Czech Republic;
(b) authorize the Director-General to communicate the report to the Government of the Czech Republic and to the Czech and Moravian Trade Union of Workers in Education (CMOS PŠ), and to invite them to take the necessary follow-up action as recommended in the report.
Geneva, 2 March 1999.
Point for decision: Paragraph 5.
1. The previous document issued by error as GB.274/LILS/9/1 has been correctly reissued as GB.274/LILS/8 (UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, 1997: Monitoring).
2. GB.271/205.
3. International Labour Conference, 86th Session (June 1998), Record of Proceedings p. 18/34.
4. CEART/SP/1997/13.