This Convention applies to all types of organisations of rural workers, including organisations which are not limited to these workers but who represent them.

For the purposes of this Convention, the term "rural workers" means all persons engaged in agricultural, craft or other occupation in rural areas, assimilated or related, whether employed or, subject to Paragraph 2 of this article, of self-employed persons, such as farmers, sharecroppers and small owner-operators.

2. This Agreement shall apply only to farmers, sharecroppers or small owner-operators whose main source of income is agriculture and who work the land themselves with the sole assistance of their families or through the use of Third parties on a purely casual basis who:

(a)

Do not use labor on a permanent basis, or

(b)

Do not employ a large seasonal workforce, or

(c)

Do not grow their land by sharecroppers or farmers.

1. All categories of rural workers, whether employees or persons working on their own account, have the right, without prior authorisation, to form organisations of their choice and the right to join them Organisations, on the sole condition that they comply with the statutes of the latter.

2. The principles of freedom of association shall be fully respected; the organisations of rural workers shall be independent and established on a voluntary basis and shall not be subjected to any interference, coercion or measures Repressive.

3. The acquisition of legal personality by organisations of rural workers may not be subject to conditions of such a nature as to call into question the application of the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article.

4. In the exercise of the rights granted to them by this Article, rural workers and their respective organisations shall, like other persons or organised communities, respect the law.

5. National legislation shall not affect or be applied in such a way as to infringe the guarantees provided for in this Article.

One of the objectives of the national rural development policy should be to facilitate the creation and development, on a voluntary basis, of strong and independent rural workers' organizations as an effective means of ensuring that Workers, without discrimination-within the meaning of the Convention on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation), 1958 ¹ -participate in and benefit from economic and social development.

1. In order to enable rural workers' organisations to play their part in economic and social development, any Member ratifying this Convention shall adopt and apply a policy to encourage such organisations, In particular with a view to eliminating obstacles to their constitution, their development and the exercise of their lawful activities, as well as the legislative and administrative discrimination of which the organisations of rural workers And their members could be the object.

(2) Any Member ratifying this Convention shall ensure that national legislation does not impede, taking into account the conditions specific to the rural sector, the constitution and the development of organisations of rural workers.

Steps should be taken to promote the widest possible understanding of the need to develop rural workers' organisations and the contribution they can make to improving employment opportunities and General conditions of work and life in rural areas as well as increased and better distribution of national income.

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to and registered by the Director General of the International Labour Office.

(1) This Convention shall only bind the Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratification has been registered by the Director General.

2. It shall enter into force twelve months after the ratifications of two Members have been registered by the Director General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall enter into force for each Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

1. Any Member having ratified this Convention may denounce it at the expiration of a period of ten years after the date of the initial entry into force of the Convention by an act communicated to the Director General of the International Labour Office And by registered him. The denunciation shall take effect only one year after being registered.

2. Any Member having ratified this Convention which, within one year of the expiration of the ten-year period referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall not make use of the right of denunciation provided for in this Article shall be bound For a new period of ten years and thereafter may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each ten-year period under the conditions laid down in this Article.

The Director General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations made available to it by the Members of the Organization.

2. By notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second ratification which has been communicated to it, the Director General shall call the attention of the Members of the Organization on the date on which this Convention enters into force Vigor.

The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for registration, in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations ¹ , complete information about all ratifications and all acts of denunciation which it has registered in accordance with the previous articles.

Whenever it deems it necessary, the Governing Council of the International Labour Office shall submit to the General Conference a report on the application of this Convention and consider whether it should be included in the agenda of the Conference the question of its total or partial revision.

1. In the event that the Conference adopts a new convention for the total or partial revision of this Convention, and unless the new Convention provides otherwise:

(a)

Ratification by a Member of the new revision agreement would automatically entail, notwithstanding Article 9 above, the immediate termination of this Convention, provided that the new revision agreement is entered into In force;

(b)

From the date of entry into force of the new revision agreement, this Convention shall cease to be open for ratification by Members.

(2) This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its form and content for Members who have ratified it and which do not ratify the revised Convention.

The English and French versions of the text of this Agreement are equally authentic.