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The Committee notes that the Government's report contains no reply to previous comments. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request: Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(c), of the Convention. 1. The Committee refers to its previous comments, which concerned prison labour of convicts. It notes in this respect that, according to the Government's information, the Labour Code adopted in 1996 sets out in section 4 the absolute prohibition of any form of forced labour and that provisions have been adopted to prevent any further form of forced labour, including the hiring of prisoners to private parties. The Committee also notes that, according to the same report, sections 73 and 75 of the above Act determine the conditions governing such hiring and the tariffs. The Government also states that a text to repeal the provisions of section 3 of the above Act is still being prepared. In practice, according to the Government, prison labour is performed at the explicit request of the prisoner and the request may be approved after completion of half of the sentence. The Government also indicates that the Social Security Code contains provisions respecting the registration of detained persons in the context of prison labour, but that the resources available to the administration are insufficient to overcome shortfalls in this area. 2. With reference to paragraphs 89 to 96 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, the Committee recalls that work performed by convicted persons for private employers requires the formal consent of the person concerned and guarantees and protection relating to wages and social security. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the following points:

-- provisions adopted to prevent any form of forced labour, including the hiring of convicted prisoners to private parties;

-- measures taken to amend the provisions of Act No. 22/84 of 29 December 1984, particularly with regard to the hiring of convicted persons to private parties; and

-- measures adopted relating to wages and social security for work performed by convicted persons. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to take the necessary measures to bring its law and practice into conformity with the Convention. 3. The Committee notes that the comments of 20 May 1998 made by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Gabon (CGSL) and communicated to the Government refer among other matters to circumstances of imprisonment. The Committee would ask the Government to indicate in its next report to what extent it has taken measures to guarantee that prison labour as mentioned above is labour for which the prisoners concerned have offered themselves voluntarily, when the only alternative is the poor circumstances referred to by the Confederation. 4. Referring to the general observation on the Convention made in its report to the 87th Session of the International Labour Conference (1999), the Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information as to the present position in law and practice as regards:

(i) whether there are prisons administered by private concerns, profit-making or otherwise;

(ii) whether any private prison contractors deploy prisoners to work either inside or outside prison premises, either for the account of the contractor or for that of another enterprise;

(iii) whether private parties are admitted by the prison authorities into prison premises of any kind for the purpose of engaging prisoners in employment;

(iv) whether employment of prisoners outside prison premises, either for a public authority or for a private enterprise, is allowed;

(v) the conditions in which employment under any of the above conditions takes place, in respect of remuneration (indicating the level and comparing it with any minimum wage normally applicable to such work), benefits accruing (such as pension rights and workers' compensation), observance of occupational safety and health legislation and other conditions of employment (e.g. through labour inspection), and how those conditions are determined.

(vi) what the source of any remuneration is (whether from public or private funds) and for what purposes it must or may be applied (e.g. for the personal use of the prisoner or if it is subject to compulsory deductions);

(vii) for whose benefit is the product of prisoner's work and any surplus profit deriving from it, after deduction of overheads, and how it is disbursed;

(viii) how the consent of the prisoners concerned is guaranteed, so that it is free from the menace of any penalty, including any loss of privileges or other disadvantages following from a refusal to work.