Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1998, publiée 87ème session CIT (1999)

Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(c), of the Convention. Further to its previous comments on work done by prisoners and performed in workshops run by private enterprises inside the prisons, the Committee notes that the position of the Government remains unchanged and that the report repeats the statements by the Government already noted in its previous comments. The Committee notes that the envisaged inclusion of convicted prisoners in the statutory social insurance (sickness, accident and pension insurances) continues to be prevented by budgetary restrictions. It notes with interest that nevertheless remuneration for the work of convicted prisoners has been increased under the provisions of the Ordinance which came into effect on 1 January 1998.

The Committee noted in earlier comments made under the Convention, and in paragraph 98 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, that the provisions of the Convention which prohibit convict labour from being hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations are not limited to work outside the penitentiary establishments but apply equally to workshops which may be operated by private undertakings inside prisons (General Report, 1998, paragraph 117). Only when work is performed voluntarily by prisoners in conditions which guarantee payment of normal wages and social security, etc., can work by prisoners for private companies be held compatible with the explicit prohibition in Article 2(2)(c); this requires the formal consent of the person concerned. The Committee pointed out that a necessary part of consent is that there must be further guarantees and safeguards covering the essential elements of a free labour relationship (ibid., paragraph 125). The Committee asks the Government to communicate information on any development in the matter, especially as regards the envisaged inclusion of convicted prisoners in the statutory social insurance schemes (sickness, accident and pension insurance), and to send the text of the above-mentioned Ordinance.