Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. In previous comments, the Committee referred to section 283 of the Penal Code under which anyone who, without creating a situation of general danger, prevents, disrupts or obstructs the normal operation of transport, public communications, or the supply of water, electricity or any other source of power, shall be punished by a custodial sentence of not less than two years and not more than four years. The Committee observed that under section 65 of the Code for the Execution of Sentences, custodial sentences involve compulsory labour.

The Committee notes the indications given in the Government's report to the effect that the custodial sentence is given effect only by judicial order and that prison labour is not applied as a measure of labour discipline, is not of a harsh nature and is not an affront to the prisoner's dignity.

The Committee wishes to recall that, in most cases, labour imposed on persons as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law will have no relevance to the application of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention.

On the other hand, cases in which any sanction which involves imposing compulsory labour on a person because he has committed a breach a labour discipline or has participated in a strike are covered by the Convention (see 1979 General Survey of the Committee of Experts on the abolition of forced labour, paragraphs 105 et seq).

Nevertheless, the Committee considered that legal provisions which punished acts affecting the operation of essential services in the strict sense, namely, those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population are not incompatible with the Conventions on forced labour (on this matter, see the 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, paragraphs 110 and 122). The Committee observes that section 283 of the Penal Code covers such essential services as supply of water, electricity and telephone services and others which are not essential in the strict meaning of the term such as transport or the supply of sources of power. In addition, even though it deals with essential services within the strict meaning of the term, section 283 applies specifically to acts which do not create a situation of general danger. Hence it allows the imposition of custodial sentences involving work in violation of Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention.

The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken to amend or repeal section 283 of the Penal Code and that the Government will supply information on the measures taken in this regard.