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

Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention. Work exacted from an individual as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law. 1. The Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention for many years to the need to amend section 1 of Order No. 68-353 of 6 April 1968 regulating the terms of labour for persons detained in correctional institutions, under which “labour is compulsory for all detainees in detention and reform centres”. It considers that under this provision remand prisoners might also be subject to compulsory work, which is contrary to the Convention. The Government has repeatedly indicated that, in practice, remand prisoners are not required to perform any kind of labour, and it has declared its intention to amend this Order.

The Committee notes that the Government once again indicates in its latest report that the General Directorate of Labour has contacted the Ministry of Justice and the judicial authorities to examine ways to proceed rapidly to the repeal and replacement of the provisions of Order No. 68-353 which are contrary to the Convention. The review undertaken could result in the submission of a bill in the National Assembly at its session in October 2009. The Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to take all the necessary measures to have the bill adopted and to ensure that the new legislation regulating prison labour will indicate explicitly that remand prisoners awaiting trial are not compelled to work in prison.

2. In response to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government indicates that the prison administration rarely makes use of the provisions of section 7(2) of Order No. 68-353, which authorize prisoners whose conduct is considered satisfactory to work for private employers, the tendency being rather to grant them parole. The Committee recalls that according to Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention, prisoners may not be hired to, or placed at, the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations. It has nevertheless considered that, provided safeguards exist to ensure that prisoners accept such work voluntarily and that the conditions of such work approximate those of a free labour relationship, the private employment of prisoners may be compatible with the Convention. Under these conditions, the Committee asks the Government to specify the procedure followed when convicted persons work for private employers, the manner in which their consent to such work is provided for, and the conditions of employment that are guaranteed to them. Please provide information on the remuneration paid to convicted persons vis-à-vis the average remuneration paid for the same activity performed by the free workers.