Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Information on forced labour practices

1.  The Committee notes the comments supplied by the Single Central Organization of Workers (CUT) and the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG), of 29 November 1999, that despite the measures taken by the Government, especially those regarding inspection, workers are still routinely subject to slave labour or degrading labour.

Measures taken to ensure respect for the prohibition of forced labour

A.  Remedial, promotional and preventative actions

2.  With reference to the comments from CUT and COMTAG, the Government has, in its detailed reply dated 14 August 2000, acknowledged that despite laws to protect rural workers, there are still in many areas a large number of workers who, with their families, are subjected to degrading working conditions and debt bondage. The Government indicated that it is tackling the problem on a number of fronts.

Remedial actions

3.  There is collaboration between the Labour Inspection Service in the Ministry of Labour with the Special Mobile Control Group which is the operational arm of GERTRAF (the Executive Group on the Prevention of Forced Labour), the rural land commissions and rural unions to identify situations of forced labour. Complaints can be made to the Labour Inspection Service by the press, trade unions, human rights bodies and the Rural Commissions among others, which then results in action taken by the Special Mobile Control Group. The Government reports that this combined action is achieving significant results through rapid and transparent processing of all complaints. The report also refers to an increase in numbers of persons employed in the Labour Inspection Service which in 1999 employed 1,000 employment law specialists, 19 engineers and 17 employment doctors.

4.  The Government statistics indicate that in 1999, a total of 639 workers were freed through the actions of the Special Mobile Control Group. With respect to this figure, the Committee notes that, according to Anti-Slavery International, this total exceeds the entire number freed in the three previous years. The Government statistics also indicate that there is further improvement and that, in the first quarter of this year, 284 workers were freed and they were paid sums as wages in arrears and their contracts were terminated.

5.  The Committee welcomes these improvement and encourages the Government to continue to improve further given the extent and seriousness of the problem.

  Promotional measures

6.  The Government report indicates that the Labour Inspection Service continues to expand and strengthen rural inspection through regional labour offices, directing control action at areas where workers are recruited, in order to warn and educate employers concerning the correct way of employing labour. The Government states that it is providing new equipment to give greater speed in mobilizing control teams. There is also improvement in the recording and summarizing of data to allow comparative analysis. Lectures and seminars are being held on slave and degrading labour, so as to enlighten leading professionals and the public at large of its serious and adverse effects. Further the press publishes the results of the joint action of the Labour Inspection Service, the Federal Prosecution Service and the Federal Police in relation to the proceedings which are in progress.

  Preventative measures

7.  The Government report indicates that the Labour Inspection Service and the Public Employment Department in the Ministry of Labour are preparing "terms of reference" for proposals for encouraging training and career guidance for workers released from slave labour. These proposals also include the creation of partnerships with state bodies to prevent removal of workers from their place of origin and for job creation. The Government states that these initiatives, conceived as "action to assist workers fleeing rural violence" was included in the "Programme for the Eradication of Slave and Degrading Labour" for the year 2001, under the "Pluri-annual Plan-PPA" for 2001-03.

8.  Also on the preventative front, the Government reports that the Ministry of Labour and Employment has held meetings with representatives of teachers in higher education who have offered to work in partnership in drawing up an agreement on providing medical and legal support through universities close to the areas where slave and degrading labour is prevalent. Information campaigns on the subject of such labour have already been established for university audiences. Again the Committee welcomes these preventative measures and asks to be kept informed as to their progress.

B. Punitive actions and strict enforcement of penalties

9.  The Committee referred previously to the paucity of penal sanctions that had been imposed on those responsible for the exaction of forced labour and recalled that the action of the labour inspectorate was in itself not sufficient to eradicate cases of forced labour unless it could rely on the support of a judicial system capable of imposing severe punishment on violators. In its previous observation, the Committee noted the adoption of Act No. 9777 providing for increased sanctions for activities related to the practice of forced labour. This Act modified sections 132, 203 and 207 of the Penal Code by supplementing section 149 of the same Code ("reducing someone to a condition analogous to slavery"). The Committee requested the Government to supply detailed information on the number of persons sanctioned under sections 132, 149, 203 and 207 of the Penal Code.

10.  The Committee notes the comments by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) of August 2000, transmitted to the Government in September 2000. These comments refer to information obtained by the Land and Countryside Commission and Anti-Slavery International, according to which Act No. 9777 was not being implemented and the action of the Mobile Inspection Group had not managed to bring those persons responsible to justice for having imposed forced labour. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour itself, between 1996 and 1999 only four persons were imprisoned for having imposed forced labour, despite the fact that during the same period the Mobile Inspection Group, in 25 operations, freed 1,266 workers found working in conditions of forced labour. According to the same report, the low level of legal proceedings could result from the labour inspectors only being able to impose administrative sanctions on finding evidence of forced labour, and having no competence to bring criminal proceedings against those responsible. The information is transmitted to the Attorney-General whose decision it is whether to initiate penal action. This procedure takes a considerable time, which reduces the possibilities for legal proceedings, since the freed workers generally leave the region to return to their homes or to find other sources of work. Moreover, the fact that the freed workers are not covered by immediate protection exposes them to threats and intimidation discouraging them from testifying at the proceedings.

In its previous observations, the Committee suggested to the Government to consider the proposal of the public labour prosecutors regarding the need to adopt specific and consolidated legislation on forced labour establishing both civil and criminal responsibility and giving the labour prosecutors the competence to bring criminal cases against persons who subject others to forced labour practices or degrading labour.

11.  The Committee notes from the Government’s report that it recognizes the need for a standardized framework of legislation to give force to the procedures in respect of the exaction of forced labour and the need for joint collaboration between the different bodies involved (Federal Prosecution Service, Labour Prosecution Service, Federal Police, the Labour Court and the Federal Court). The Government states that many cases, submitted by the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, are at present before the Federal Attorney-General’s Office which must undertake the basic investigations necessary to commence criminal action before the federal courts, which are competent to act in cases of forced labour.

12.  The Committee hopes that the Government will communicate detailed information on the number of cases of forced labour brought before the Federal Attorney-General’s Office through the inspection services of the Ministry of Labour and the date when they were submitted. The Committee also hopes that the Government will supply information from the Federal Attorney-General’s Office on the progress and treatment of cases submitted by the Labour Inspectorate, particularly as regards the number and percentage of complaints which have resulted in criminal proceedings against the total number of complaints received through the inspection services. The Committee also hopes to receive the information requested in respect of the number of convictions imposed under Act No. 9777 and section 149 of the Penal Code.

13.  The Committee, whilst recognizing the improved measures taken by the Government to combat forced labour, again expresses its concern that the failure to apply effective sanctions, the impunity enjoyed by those responsible, the slowness of judicial processes and the lack of coordination between the various governmental bodies are an impediment to the effective eradication of this grave violation of the Convention.

14.  The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain the information requested regarding allegations of minors forced into prostitution in the state of Rondonia, made by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in October 1999. The Committee recalled that work by children in conditions of debt bondage, including the forced prostitution of minors, comes within the sphere of application of the Convention and took note of the Government’s indication that it was giving priority to combating child labour.

The Committee hopes the Government will communicate information on the investigations which have taken place concerning these allegations and on any other measures which have been taken in this connection.