CMNT_TITLE

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Tunisia (RATIFICATION: 1962)

Other comments on C029

Observation

Direct Request

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Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. In response to the Committee’s request for information on trafficking in Tunisia and the measures it has taken in response, the Government indicates that the trafficking of persons is not a worrying phenomenon and that Tunisia is not under direct threat from this scourge. The Government has nevertheless undertaken to set up an adequate legal framework to combat such trafficking effectively and to support international efforts to halt the scourge. The Committee takes note of this information and observes that the Government already indicated in October 2010, in reporting to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, that a bill against the trafficking of women was under study and that a national action plan was also envisaged. It also notes that the abovementioned committee expressed concern at the lack of precise information from the Government on trafficking of persons and on the prosecution and punishment of trafficking and the protection of victims (CEDAW/C/TUN/CO/6, 22 October 2010). The Committee observes that Tunisia has always been a country of migration to Europe and, because of its geographical proximity to Italy, has also become a transit country for migrant workers, often in an irregular situation, from sub-Saharan Africa as well as from other countries of the Maghreb. These migrant workers are often vulnerable, being exposed to situations in which their labour is exploited, and are therefore at greater risk of falling prey to trafficking. In these circumstances, the Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures to adopt legislation on trafficking in persons and to raise awareness about the phenomenon among the public, and particularly among the population at risk. Please also indicate the measures taken for the adoption of a national action plan that covers activities to raise awareness about trafficking and to train those concerned, capacity-building measures for law enforcement authorities and measures to protect victims and enable them to assert their rights.

2. Freedom of state employees to leave their employment. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government to the effect that according to the Ministry of National Defence, the administrative tribunals have heard no complaints concerning decisions to refuse applications to resign filed by public officers, in so far as applications of this kind are always accepted. Recalling that although the legislation does not expressly guarantee that public officers, both civilian and military, may resign from their employment within reasonable time limits, according to the information supplied by the Government in its recent reports, in practice, applications to resign raise no problems and are accepted. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to continue to provide information in future reports on the number, if any, of applications to resign that have been refused and the number of complaints filed as a consequence by public officers, both civilian and military, with the administrative tribunals or the joint administrative committees.

Article 2(2)(a). Purely military character of work carried out in the context of compulsory military service. The Committee recalls that the legislation on compulsory national service (Act No. 2004-1 of 14 January 2004 and Decree No. 2004-516 of 9 March 2004) is based on a concept of military service that is too broad to be covered by the exception to forced labour allowed by Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention. Accordingly, national service, the aim of which is to prepare citizens to defend their country and to participate in the overall development of the country, may take the form of active military service that is intended to respond to the needs of the national army, or the form of national service outside units of the armed forces that is intended to respond to overall defence needs and the imperatives of national solidarity. In this latter form, the conscripts concerned are assigned either to units of the internal security forces, or to administrations and enterprises in the context of individual assignments or within the framework of technical cooperation. Those wishing to perform national service outside the units of the armed forces submit an application to the Ministry of National Defence, which may be accepted once the needs of the national army have been met. Individual assignments are to the administration or the enterprise in which the conscript concerned is already engaged. These conscripts maintain their wages subject to a contribution to the National Service Fund (30–50 per cent of the wage).

The Committee acknowledged that, to a certain extent, the legislation grants conscripts the possibility of opting for work of a non-military nature in the context of national service; however, the choice is made within the context and on the basis of compulsory national service as envisaged by law. The existence of such a choice is not sufficient to obscure the fact that the persons concerned are mobilized for one year in the framework of a statutory national service obligation, without necessarily performing work related to the need to ensure national defence, which objective is at the basis of the exception allowed by Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention.

The Committee notes that in its latest report the Government states that in 2011 the number of conscripts serving in units of the armed forces stood at 8,232 and the number of those serving outside the armed forces in the context of individual assignments stood at 1,753. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to review the actual concept of military service in the light of the foregoing developments, and in the meantime requests it to continue to provide information on the number of persons who annually perform their national service in units of the armed forces as compared to the number of those serving outside such units (distinguishing between individual assignments and technical cooperation), specifying, for the same reference year, the number of persons who applied to the Ministry of National Defence to perform national service outside the units of the armed forces.

Article 2(2)(c). Community work. The Committee notes that in its report the Government states that Act No. 2009-68 of 12 August 2009 on punitive damages and alternatives to prison sentences has introduced a degree of flexibility in the regime to enforce the penalty of community work so as to broaden its scope and extend its coverage. The Government states that the courts are resorting more and more to this penalty as an alternative to imprisonment. The Committee points out that when a sentence of community work is passed, the accused must be present in court and must be informed of his right to refuse community work. Furthermore, the entities in which the work may be performed remain the same, namely: public establishments or local communities, charitable or aid associations or associations of benefit to the nation and environmental protection associations.

The Committee recalls that where community work may be performed for private bodies, including charitable associations or institutions, it seeks assurance that the practical arrangements for such work are sufficiently closely supervised to ensure that the work performed is of real benefit to the community and that the body for which the work is done is a non-profit-making organization. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the associations that are allowed to take on persons sentenced to community work and on the types of work carried out for these associations.