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1. Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(c), of the Convention. Prison labour. In its previous comments, which it has been making for a number of years, the Committee noted that prison labour is compulsory for all convicts, subject to penalties, by virtue of section 3 of Act No. 22/84 of 29 December 1984 establishing the rules respecting prison labour. By virtue of section 4, such labour includes work inside and outside, and the hiring of prisoners to private parties, both individuals and entities, is admitted for external work on condition that this workforce is not in competition with free labour.

The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that Article 2, paragraph 2(c), prohibits any convict from being placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations. However, it considers that prison labour performed for private companies may be compatible with these provisions of the Convention where the prisoners work under conditions approximating those of a free employment relationship. As the Committee indicated in paragraph 91 of its General Report submitted to the 89th Session of the International Labour Conference in June 2001, this necessarily requires the voluntary consent of the prisoner, as well as further guarantees and safeguards covering the essential elements of an employment relationship, such as the existence of an employment contract, the application of labour legislation, the payment of a normal wage and social security coverage. With regard to the voluntary nature and conditions for the private employment of prisoners, the Committee refers to paragraphs 128-143 of its General Report of 2001.

The Committee notes that, under the terms of section 9 of the Act of 29 December 1984 above, prisoners may be hired to public services or private parties, both individuals and entities, following a written request addressed, in the provinces, to the head of the administrative unit, and in Libreville, to the director of the central prison. Section 10 determines the conditions for the hiring of prisoners to private individuals, including the condition that only convicts who have completed over half of their sentence may be hired where their personality, record, conduct in detention and the indications of reform that they have given provide adequate guarantees for public security and order. Under the terms of section 17, any detainee who has been hired to work for private individuals or entities is granted a payment which is not a wage. The Committee notes that it results from the above provisions that the conditions of a free employment relationship are not fulfilled. In the light of the above, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to repeal the provisions of the above Act which are contrary to the Convention, so as to ensure that prison labour for private parties can only be authorized under conditions approximating those of a free employment relationship.

2.  Trafficking of children for the purposes of exploitation. The Committee refers to its general observation of 2001 concerning the trafficking of persons for the purposes of exploitation. In this respect, the Committee notes the information contained in the following reports:

(i)  Synthesis report of the subregional project of the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC, 2001) entitled, "Combating Trafficking in Children for Labour Exploitation in West and Central Africa". The study carried out by IPEC in 1998-99 indicates that Gabon is a destination country for the trafficking of persons and that children are brought there from Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The Committee notes that this trafficking of children with a view to their economic exploitation is closely related to certain of the worst forms of child labour. According to the report, the child victims of trafficking are deprived of the right to education and adequate nutrition and are often the victims of physical and sexual abuse.

(ii)  Report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, adopted at its 26th Session, in July 2001, which describes the case of the Etireno, a vessel on board which were discovered in April 2001 around 40 children who were being brought to Gabon (Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/30, paragraphs 35-38).

(iii)  Reports of Anti-slavery International submitted to the 24th, 25th and 26th Sessions of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The Committee notes that, according to these reports, the majority of children who are the victims of trafficking to Gabon are girls employed in domestic service and as street hawkers, whereas boys mainly work in agriculture. The children often have to work between 14 and 18 hours a day and they are frequently compelled to carry heavy loads and to walk many kilometres each day to sell their goods.

(iv)  Report of the Government of Gabon examined on 17 January 2002 at the 29th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. According to this report, the penalties set out in section 16 of the Labour Code, which punish persons who have had recourse to forced labour with a fine of between 300,000 and 600,000 CFA francs and/or imprisonment from one to six months, are rarely applied due to the fact that the activities of labour inspectors are limited to the structured sector which, by its nature, does not have recourse to work by children below the statutory age of admission to employment. The Committee notes that, since March 1998, Gabon has become a partner in the IPEC programme. It also notes that a joint commission for Benin and Gabon was created in March 1999 within the context of bilateral cooperation with responsibility, among other matters, for proposing practical measures to combat the trafficking and work of children from Benin in Gabon (Doc. CRC/C/41/Add.10, paragraphs 266-268). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results of the work of this joint commission.

(v)  Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child respecting Gabon, adopted on 1 February 2002. The Committee notes the adoption in 2001 of an Act introducing into the Penal Code the offence of the trafficking of children. It notes that, despite the adoption of this Act and the establishment of a national inter-ministerial committee to combat the trafficking of children, as well as the serious commitment by the State on this issue, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed deep concern at the large number of trafficked children who are still exploited, mostly on the informal labour market or enslaved, and particularly in the case of children coming from abroad (Doc. CRC/C/15/Add.171, paragraphs 3 and 59). The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the above Act.

In the light of this information, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the effective application of the provisions of the national legislation intended to prevent, suppress and punish the trafficking of persons for the purpose of exploitation, as well as the provisions of the Convention.