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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 following matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Freedom to leave the service of the State. Over a number of years, the Committee has been referring to section 64 of the Civil Servants Code and section 65 of the Employment Regulations for State Companies. Under section 64 of the Civil Servants Code, the resignation of a civil servant may be rejected by the employer within one month from the filing date, though the employee has the right to appeal against rejection of the resignation. As regards section 65 of the Employment Regulations for State Companies, the Committee observed that its provisions make the resignation effective from the date when the company approves it in writing, whereas an employee is obliged to remain in his/her occupation until the end of the notice period and until the resignation is finally approved by the company; since there is no provision making the resignation automatically effective upon the expiration of the term of notice, it follows from the wording of this section that the company may in effect refuse to give its approval of the resignation.

The Committee recalled, referring also to paragraph 68 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, that the effect of statutory provisions preventing termination of employment of indefinite duration by means of notice of reasonable length is to turn a contractual relationship based on the will of the parties into service by compulsion of law, and is thus incompatible with the Convention. The Committee therefore considered that the above provisions do not conform with the Convention and requested the Government to take appropriate measures in order to ensure compliance.

As regards the Government’s reference in the report to the provision of Article 2(2)(b) of the Convention, which exempts from its provisions any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations of the citizens, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the explanations contained in paragraph 34 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, in which the Committee recalled that the Convention specifically provides for three exceptions which constitute such normal civic obligations: compulsory military service; work or service required in cases of emergency; and minor communal services. Other examples of normal civic obligations are compulsory jury service and the duty to assist a person in danger or to assist in the enforcement of law and order. The Committee pointed out that these exceptions must be read in the light of other provisions of the Convention and cannot be invoked to justify recourse to forms of compulsory service which are contrary to such other provisions. The Committee expresses firm hope that the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that all persons in the service of the State are free to leave the service on their own initiative within a reasonable period, except in circumstances that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population. It requests the Government to provide, in its next report, information on any progress made in this regard.