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

The Committee notes the Government's report.

1. Article 2, paragraph 2(c), of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide copies of any texts setting out practical procedures and regulations with respect to prison labour which might have been adopted in accordance with sections 22, 26 and 35, (3), of the 1980 Penal Code.

The Committee notes the Government's indication that, to date, none of these texts has been adopted, but that it is envisaging adoption, in application of the provisions of the 1980 Penal Code, of the following:

(a) a decree to establish the working conditions of prisoners and the disciplinary regulations of the establishment;

(b) an order to establish the working conditions, supervision and employment of convicted prisoners;

(c) an order to establish procedures for the employment and work of persons sentenced to penal labour.

The Committee trusts that these texts will be drafted in compliance with the conditions set forth in Article 2, paragraph 2(c), of the Convention, that is, that only persons convicted in a court of law may be subjected to compulsory labour and furthermore, that these persons must not be hired or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations, either inside or outside of prisons. However, as the Committee noted in paragraph 97 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, the Convention is not opposed to allowing certain prisoners the possibility of voluntarily accepting employment with private employers, subject to guarantees as to the payment of normal wages and social security, etc.

The Committee hopes the Government will soon transmit texts adopted in compliance with the Convention.

Pending adoption of such texts, it requests the Government to supply information on the present practical situation firstly, regarding the status of detainees and other prisoners not sentenced by a court of law in respect of prison labour and secondly, on the following points raised in the general observation under the Convention made in the Committee's report to the 87th Session of the International Labour Conference (1999):

(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 prisons 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 purposes 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.

2. Freedom of public servants to terminate their employment. In its previous comments, the Committee drew the attention of the Government to the need to repeal or amend any text which obliged public servants and military personnel to serve the State for a period of ten years in exchange for the training they have received.

The Committee notes from the Government's latest report that the practice of requiring prior agreement to a ten-year engagement, as a condition of entry to the various training schools, has long been abandoned, and has no legal basis in national legislation.