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Agricultural workers in the balance of human rights

Prepared by: Saber Barakat
Working brother - my sister working
Workers have the role of social class social, economic and political community, is a major party in the relations of production.Can be divided into sectors where workers from their work to industry workers and agricultural laborers. In general, the human factor is if he makes his living from the sale of his work force and gets the reward or return for his time. All face wage earners the same problems, and suffer the injustices are similar, such as the denial of a fair wage, and adequate for their lives with dignity and their families, and work long hours threaten their continued ability to work, and risk exposure, injuries and illnesses as a result of working conditions and nature, and the denial of social guarantees and social insurance. .. And others. I have known workers during Kavahathm long and the face of circumstances cruel to their strength in their unity and their ability to organize themselves into associations and unions and even political parties to defend their rights and interests and unite their word and show their strength commensurate with the offer in the effort, work, and the date in the communities. And the rights of workers are an integral part of human rights, based on all the legal legitimacy and international conventions, but that the rights of workers as distinct from the rest of the human rights, economic and social development, including such as the right to food and the right to education, civil and political rights such as the right to a fair trial and the right of expression and other, it includes several human variety mixed syndrome and even include the protection of some negative aspects Kalirhaq resulting from physical effort and mental stress from work, because the rights of workers not only meet human needs in the enjoyment of the right of its rights, but is working to provide the necessary guarantees for the protection of rights is barely to earn a living and produce At the same time value and the good of all mankind, and even make a life, and continue to believe in welfare and justice for the humanitarian community as a whole. The work is not a source of income and livelihood of workers, but also is the source to provide a decent standard of living for all humanity, it is the work product value comes and wealth and goodness, as the workers they seek to earn income not only receive a fraction of the output of their work and leave Bakith or surplus value to the owners, and the community and well-being, and are entitled to see the allocation of those revenues in the framework of justice, which guarantees the adequacy of what gets everyone to enjoy a dignified life in freedom, justice, security and human dignity.
Agricultural workers:
The number of agricultural workers, some 450 million workers, representing 40 per cent of the workforce in the world, and the number is increasing in most parts of the world. The women working in agriculture from 20 to 30% of the paid labor force in rural areas and this percentage will increase in Latin America and the Caribbean to 40%, and increase their numbers in most parts of the world, (according to the report of the ILO and FAO, 2007).There is no doubt that agricultural workers from the poorest categories of workers and the most insecure and health food. In many countries, more than 60 percent of agricultural workers out of poverty. The majority of rural business and agricultural business is organized (formal) in the sense that workers employed in agriculture sector is not recognized by the regulatory and legal in most countries of the world, does not enjoy any protection under the legal and regulatory frameworks.
The official statistics estimated the number of workers in the agriculture sector in Egypt by more than half of the workforce (57%), agricultural workers and a wage of about 30.3% of the total workers in Egypt, and about 49.3 from among workers in the countryside in 1997. And to about 31% of the total employees, and 48.2% of the workers in the countryside in 2008. Inhuman working conditions:
It was discovered agriculture, invented a big step towards making human civilization, and agriculture in some of the definitions is "the work that aims to control the forces of nature for the production of crops, plant and meet the needs of animal rights."
And exposed the public workers in the agriculture sector, during their working hours long, to many environmental hazards that affect their health and their level of physical, psychological and even social because of the work environments harsh lacks the most basic rules of occupational safety and health, where the exposed agricultural workers to dust, dust, fertilizers and pesticides of all kinds, as well as work in temperatures and humidity has a lot of risk and exposure of workers to Catalepsies thermal, and sunburns that result from exposure to direct sunlight. In addition to exposure to biological risk of exposure to parasites, as well as for many diseases that afflict workers in the agriculture sector. Other than risk psychological and social, which produces the sense of alienation and instability, especially among migrant workers and the action moving from one job to another, and a sense of insecurity and loss of confidence in the future, but the futility of life itself in light of the worsening social and economic conditions faced by these workers. Nahina about the dangers of accidents at work (whether road accidents during the transport of workers, especially migrant workers or those incidents resulting from the use of machinery agriculture), the most risk painful and impact on the self, which does not lose the Group where his work and livelihood, but also may lose part of his body or his whole life. If we add to the weakness of the wages of agricultural workers on their diversity, we will find that the harsh working conditions in which they work threatens their continued ability to work and earn a living, the work lacks all the criteria of decent work, consent to its forced under the pressure of want and need to eat and breath their children, although the contents of the bad services and a decline in income and the risk of shocking work, bore in every moment to stop the threat of earning capacity and loss of work and the few pounds they receive.
Is based on decent work to the four fundamental pillars, namely:
1 - Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and International Labour Standards;
2 - good jobs and income just adequate;
3 - social protection and social security;
4 - social dialogue and tripartite principle.
These goals apply to all workers, men and women in the formal sector and informal sector. Whether workers hired or working for themselves, and whether their work in the fields or factories or offices, at home or in the street. Perhaps this is what makes our thinking on the rights of agricultural workers, expanding to reflect on their broad overall, are not only workers but also as human beings basically crush human rights in full, so we look at the rights of human beings and workers.
Human Rights:
Human rights are the bundle of rights inherent in each human being, and that people can not live in dignity without enjoyment.
The economic and social rights, political, civil, cultural, States have the commitment to providing and promoting respect and protection for all citizens.
These rights need to be available to all people without discrimination among them for any reason, what the different color, sex, creed or religion or wealth, or political opinion. Rights that are integrated and are indivisible, including:
1 - The right to life, safety and humane treatment.
2 - The right to equality.
3 - the right to freedom from poverty and fear.
4 - The right to private property and economic activity.
5 - Each person has the right to be afforded the opportunity to earn a living by work freely chosen or acceptable. And enjoy fair conditions of work.
6 - the right of everyone to adequate standard of living for himself and his family.
7 - The right to form and join unions without restriction.
8 - The right to social security, including social insurance.
9 - The right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
10 - Right to protection of motherhood and childhood.
11 - The right to education and making it available to all on equal footing. And to ensure compulsory and free basic education for all.
12 - The right to participate in cultural life. And enjoy the benefits of scientific progress.
13 - The right of assembly, freedom to hold and express opinion and freedom of expression.
14 - The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
15 - The right to participate in the management of the state, and to hold public office.
16 - the right to form political parties. And associations and to join.
17 - the right to protect the sanctity of private life and personal freedom.
18 - The right to humane treatment and prevent the kind of torture.
19 - The right to protection of the law and equality in front of him, and the provision of justice.
20 - the right to travel, and travel.
21 - right in the circulation of information.
22 - the right to a clean environment.
Include these human rights workers and agricultural workers certainly in all of the content standards and values and benefits, which do not prevent agricultural workers, but are more motivated to learn their rights as workers, claim and to be able to seek out and achieve for all workers.
The rights of workers:
The rights of workers is a set of rights that are based on legality and human rights, including both national (the Constitution and the law) or international (human rights charters and conventions of the International Labour). These relate to the relations that govern the working relations both between workers and employers or workers and the state. Relate to those rights - in general - negotiations and pressure to improve pay and incentives, and ensure safe working conditions. The right to form trade unions is one of the most important of these rights at all. Fbalnkabat (real) can, through collective bargaining and organizing collective protests and pressure to increase wages and reduce working hours and provision of social security and improve working conditions so that takes into account all the requirements of safety and health, and even change some of the other working conditions. We have focused on the labor movement - after the experience of a long history of struggle and sacrifice - essentially the right to extract configuration and join trade unions and activated to defend common interests and collective workers.
It is no coincidence in the history of the labor movement throughout history, to be agricultural workers are the first to have struggled to secure their interests based on their rights. Which crossed the "peasant revolution in England" in the Middle Ages the demand for higher wages and better working conditions. The main arguments of one of the leaders of that revolution peasant revolutionary, "John Paul", famously expressive for justice among the people, "when he created the God of Adam and Eve, was there masters and slaves? Of authorization of the day," Mr. "It was a" slave "?
And guarantee the rights of workers:
1 - the right to guarantee and maintain the dignity of workers in labor relations.
2 - The right to choose or accepted work freely.
3 - The right to adequate remuneration of the work.
4 - The right to work certain hours and acceptable, punctuated by periods of rest.
5 - The right to equal pay, when the parity value of the work.
6 - The right to equal treatment and non-discrimination.
7 - the right to safe working conditions and health, and work in a clean environment.
8 - The right to form trade unions and join them.
9 - The right to strike.
10 - Rights of Migrant Workers.
11 - restrict the work and protect children.
12 - Protection of women's work.
13 - Right to social security insurance.
The right to form trade unions, the right to join them:
There is a close and enduring connections between workers enjoy their rights and freedoms of association, since the establishment of relations of paid work and time that were not the rules or laws to ensure the safety and health of workers, or determine their hours of work, or leisure time, and holidays with pay, or their right to establish organizations collectively defend their common interests.
But thanks to the struggle of the workers, and to the sacrifices of the great strikes, and large, by employers and governments of these rights. And become the rights and freedoms recognized and sanctioned in the legal systems of today. And became the right of workers to trade union freedoms guaranteed and protected and approved by several international conventions and covenants Perhaps the most important:
- Convention on the Right to Organise - to agricultural workers - (No. 11) for the year 1921,
, Which confirmed the right of all workers in agriculture (agricultural wage earners, and those who work in agriculture compared with a third part of the harvest, peasants and exploited tenants of the land, and other farmers), in all trade union rights of workers.
- Convention on the right to organize - in non-urban land - (No. 84) for the year 1947,
Dealing with human organization in general, as well as collective bargaining, the right of consultation, and the mechanism for the settlement of labor disputes in non-urban land.
- Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (No. 87) for the year 1948,
The relationship of workers concerned with trade unions on the one hand, and the governments of the other. And ensure a number of rights and principles, including:
• the right of workers to establish organizations of their choice, and join them. (Article 2).
• the right of organizations of workers to draw up their constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives, and organize their administration and the conduct of their activities and formulate their programs, in full freedom. (Article 3 / 1).
• Protection of workers of the solution or suspension. (Article 4).
• the right of organizations of workers to form unions and alliances among themselves and to join, and membership of international organizations, unions. (Article 5).
• the commitment of public authorities to refrain from any interference in trade unions. (Article 3 / 2)
• the obligation of States to enable workers to exercise their trade union rights in full freedom. (Article 11).
• The agreement includes allowing workers to form "links" or "association" or "commissions" which protects certain rights of labor, unlike the trade unions have been concerned with the rights and powers of unions and union wider.
• Do not allow this Convention to the Governments ban the formation of trade unions or join any of the workers to it, whether civil servants or employees of the administrative facilities, economic and service of state-owned, or workers on special economic zones (investment or free or customs), or in the areas of agricultural work, or domestic service.
• We also recognize this Convention to protect trade union leaders of the insulation, it is not permissible to isolate or turn off union leaders only through the courts and under the terms of a fixed and final and without appeal.
- Convention on the organizations of agricultural workers (No. 141) for the year 1975,
The signing of the application of the basic principles of freedom of association and the right organization for agricultural workers, and urges governments to agree to implement an active policy to encourage organizations, agricultural workers, and the emphasis on the need to remove obstacles that hinder the formation and growth, monitor the activities of these organizations, and to remove any discrimination administrative or legislative action against workers agricultural and its members.
The recommendation followed by No. 149 of 1975, in the same regard.
- Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), A declaration which stressed the obligation of all Member States of the international organization - if they were not ratified the Conventions in question - that respects the principles concerning fundamental rights at work and which are the subject of international conventions, and strengthen, and achieved good faith, and as stipulated in the ILO Constitution International, and unite with the basic principles are as follows:
1 - freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
2 - on the Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor.
3 - the effective abolition of child labor.
4 - Elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation. Conferences have also taken some of the decisions of the International Labour Guidelines for the participants, including those related to trade union freedoms, such as:
- The resolution on the independence of the trade union movement, which was approved in 1952, which sets principles and a clear need for the independence of workers from governments and political parties, and stresses the need to maintain the trade union movement to independence so that it can perform its functions of economic and social development.
- The resolution on the relationship of trade union rights, public freedoms, which was approved in 1970, which emphasizes the need based on trade union rights, to respect civil liberties, especially those described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and shows that the loss of civil liberties must in turn leads to the wasting of trade union rights, and emphasizes that public freedoms are necessary to exercise trade union rights are natural.
- Agricultural workers in Egypt without unions protect their rights:
Legislation has been working in Egypt for many years to prohibit the right of agricultural workers unions in attendance, but preventing them from enjoying the protection of labor laws the same, although the ILO since its inception and has paid special attention to agriculture, as workers made it clear in advance. And deprivation of the right to organize in trade unions in Egypt, and away from formal union list and their full subordination to the government and Mwaladtha for business owners more than workers, and away from the strict parameters of freedom of association, due sometimes to the age group, where the law provides unions: "not less than age willing to join the union for 15 years. " And thus deprived of regularity in the trade unions of all workers who are under the age of 15 years, although the Labour Code recognizes the work of children from the age of 14 years, and allows to recruitment under training from the age of 12 years, and excluding the rules of Age in seasonal work, especially the agricultural (harvesting and harvesting)
decisions administrative permit the employment of children in agriculture from the age of 12 years. This means ultimately that children from the age of 12 to 15 years old have a duty to the hard work and not have the right to union protection. But that children after the age of fifteen, and if they entered the union did not enjoy full membership, but membership is incomplete as deprived of the presence of their general assemblies only after reaching the age of 16 years, and even after reaching that age does not give to children, the right to elect Messrs. union officials, but to dream presence in the leadership of the union even though the base will not allow him to think about this only after reaching the age of 20 years. If we look to agricultural workers can see how how much this means a denial of association and protection of their rights and humanitarian workers.
The right to safe working conditions and health, and work in a clean environment:
Work kills about 6000 people a day, an average worker's death every 15 seconds because of work accidents or occupational diseases. The registration of some 2.2 million deaths per year in work-related and nearly 60 million cases of work because of illness, dating back 400 thousand cases, including the use of hazardous substances at work.
Unfortunately, most workers poorer are less-comprehensive protection, and often do not enjoy in their work to the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases, and undermine dangerous actions of their health and productivity of their work, is no longer acceptable - human and jurist - to force the poor workers to succumb to the harsh working conditions and difficult simply because they are poor and are forced to work.
The majority of the poor live and suffer from lack of health, food security, who number about 1.5 billion people worldwide - in rural areas and their livelihoods depend on work in agriculture and the productive resources based on the ground. The work of the right to safe working conditions, health and work in a clean environment, with a measure of productive employment and decent of the main factors that enable the rural poor to escape poverty and disease. Studies have shown on occupational health and safety in work environments in the agricultural sector the seriousness of exposure of workers to the risks of agricultural work that affect the mental and physical development and increase the morbidity of anemia, poisoning and diseases of the stomach in general, due to lack of experience of these workers in dealing with these risks.
Has been keen ILO since its inception in 1919 to develop and adopt a number of conventions and recommendations to the attention to issues of safety and occupational health, the conventions which are in summarized the principles and commitments that lead to coherent policies to protect workers from work hazards and occupational hazards, and represents at the same time, a practical approach for the development of management systems, occupational safety and health, implementation and improvement in order to reduce injuries and damage to health, diseases, accidents and work-related deaths.One of these conventions:
- Convention No. 115 of 1960, on protection from radiation.
- Convention No. 129 of 1969, on the inspection of work in agriculture.
- Convention No. 81 of 1974, on the inspection of work.
- Convention No. 139 of 1974 on occupational cancer.
- Convention No. 148 of 1977, on the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration).
- Convention No. 155 of 1981, on safety and occupational health.
- Convention No. 161 of 1985 on occupational health services.
- Convention No. 184 of 2001, occupational safety and health in agriculture. Objectives and standards of safety and occupational health