Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

The Committee notes from the Government’s brief reply to its previous comments that the Labour Department would bring the Committee’s concerns to the attention of the relevant authorities. It therefore hopes that the next report will include full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request.

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. The Committee has noted that penalties of imprisonment involving, under section 36 of the Prisons Ordinance, an obligation to perform labour, may be imposed on a seaman under the following provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1982:

-  under section 131(1)(a), if he deserts from his ship;

-  under section 132(1)(b), if he is guilty of wilful disobedience to any lawful command;

-  under section 132(1)(c), if he is guilty of continued wilful disobedience to lawful commands or continued wilful neglect of duty;

-  under section 132(1)(e), if he combines with any of the crew to disobey lawful commands, or to neglect duty, or to impede the navigation of the ship or the progress of the voyage.

The Committee observes that these provisions are neither limited to acts or omissions leading to the immediate loss, destruction or serious damage of the ship, or placing in immediate danger the life or limb of a person, as is section 130(1), nor to acts of violence against persons or wilful damage to the ship or cargo, as is section 132(1)(d) and (f), which do not come under the purview of the Convention. To the contrary, sections 131(a), 132(1)(b), (c) and (e), provide for the imposition of sanctions involving compulsory labour as a means of labour discipline (and possibly as a punishment for having participated in strikes) and are thus incompatible with Article 1(c) (and, in so far as applicable in case of strikes, to Article 1(d)) of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken to bring these provisions into conformity with the Convention, and that the Government will supply information on the measures taken or initiated.

Article 1(a). The Committee has taken note of the following legislative provisions:

-  section 3(1) of the Public Order Ordinance, under which wearing in any public meeting, without permission of the chief of police, a uniform signifying association with any political organization or with the promotion of any political object, is an offence punishable under section 17(2) with imprisonment (involving, under the Prisons Ordinance, an obligation to perform labour);

-  section 15 of the Public Order Ordinance, under which the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in a public place or at a public meeting, with the intent to provoke a breach of peace, or likely to occasion such, is an offence, punishable under section 17(2) with imprisonment;

-  sections 3, 8, 9 and 12 of the Societies Ordinance, under which the Registrar may refuse or cancel the registration of a society, inter alia, if it "is incompatible with the peace, good order or welfare of the Territory", and various offences related to unlawful societies are punishable, inter alia, with imprisonment; in this connection, the Committee notes that under section 10, in any appeal to the High Court under sections 8 and 9 of the Ordinance, the onus of proving that a society is suitable for registration or that the cancellation of its registration is unjustified shall be on the society.

In order to enable the Committee to ascertain that these provisions are applied in a manner compatible with the Convention, which prohibits the use of sanctions involving an obligation to work as a means of political coercion or education, the Committee would appreciate it if the Government would supply information on their application in practice, including any court decisions defining or illustrating their scope.