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Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Mongolia (RATIFICATION: 2005)

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Observation

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Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Freedom of career members of the armed forces to leave their service. In response to its previous comments concerning the provisions that are applicable to members of the armed forces concerning their right to leave the service, the Committee notes the Government’s reference to the Law on Civil Service, 2017, which guarantees the civil servants the right to leave or resign their service upon his/her own request (sections 38.1.8 and 46.2.4). It notes that according to sections 13.1.4 and 13.1.6, officers and sergeants of armed forces, border protection and internal troops are regarded as civil servants. Moreover, the Law on Military Service, 2016, under section 22.1.6 allows the resignation of military servants from the service at their own request.

Article 2(2)(a). Work or services exacted under compulsory military service laws. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that both in law and practice work or service requested from conscripts under compulsory military service is strictly limited to work of a purely military nature. It referred in this regard to section 4 of the Law on Civil Military Services Duties and Legal Status of the Military Servicemen, 2016, and resolution No. 107 of 22 March 2013 establishing the “Mongolian conscripts for reconstruction” project”. The Committee notes the Government’s information that according to the Law on State and Official Secrets, the number of conscripts participating in reconstruction work is part of state secrets and therefore it is not allowed to share the data. The Government also indicates that the National Statistics Office is conducting a forced labour survey as part of its regular Labour Force Survey, that will measure the characteristics and extent of forced labour. The questionnaire attached to this survey includes questions to reveal if persons had been subjected to compulsory labour during their compulsory military service.

The Committee recalls that under Article 2(2)(a), compulsory military service is excluded from the scope of the Convention, only on the condition that work performed by conscripts under this obligation is of “a purely military character” and that this condition does not apply to career military personnel who is not covered by the exception to forced labour under Article 2(2)(a). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that both in law and practice conscripts performing their compulsory military service are not requested to perform work that is not of a “purely military character”. It also requests the Government to provide specific information on the number of persons performing compulsory military services, the types of work that may be assigned to them and the results of the forced labour survey.

Article 2(2)(c). 1. Work of prisoners for the benefit of private individuals. The Committee previously noted that both under the legislation and in practice convicted persons may undertake work for private entities without formally giving their free and informed consent to such work (Law on Enforcement of Court Decisions, 2017 (sections 145 and 217)). The Committee notes that the Government, while referring to general prohibition of forced labour under section 8.3.4 of the revised Labour Law of 2021 also refers to sections 214.6 and 217.1 of the Law on Enforcement of Court Decisions which allows prisoners in open prisons to be hired by legal entities not owned by the prison or work outside the prison; and to work under proper supervision while requiring the prison to establish an agreement with a legal entity for employing its prisoners. The Government indicates that there is no consolidated data on the employment of prisoners for private enterprises but that the National Human Rights Commission is conducting a qualitative study on prison labour, with the support of the ILO, the results of which would be available shortly.

The Committee recalls that the Convention addresses not only situations where prisoners are “employed” by the private company, but also situations where prisoners are hired to or placed at the disposal of private undertakings but remain under the authority and control of the prison administration. It once again recalls that the work of prisoners for private companies is only compatible with the Convention where it does not involve compulsory labour. To this end, the formal, freely given and informed consent of the persons concerned is required, in addition to further guarantees and safeguards covering the essential elements of a labour relationship, approximating those of a free labour relationship. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures both in law and practice to ensure that formal, freely given and informed consent of convicts is required, as well as conditions approximating those of a free labour relationship for all work of prisoners for private enterprises, both inside and outside prison premises. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in this regard as well as on thequalitative study on prison labour undertaken by the National Human Rights Commission.

2. Compulsory labour imposed as an alternative to imprisonment (sentence of community work). Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government provides a list of state administrative institutions, public service institutions and state-owned enterprises, approved by the General Executive Agency of Court Decisions, where offenders sentenced to socially useful labour are permitted to work pursuant to section 163.1 of the Law on Enforcement of Court Decisions. The Committee also takes due note of the Government’s information that as of 20 November 2022, there were 272 convicted persons performing community work, out of which 73.7 per cent were cleaning public areas and streets, 45 per cent were planting trees and 32 per cent were doing other work, such as maintenance, assistant administrative clerk, carpentry and cooking. The majority of work is carried out in institutions such as police, public utilities and landscaping department, passenger transportation department, state-owned enterprises in provinces, sub provinces and districts, as well as local government owned self-sustaining enterprises.