Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1999, publiée 88ème session CIT (2000)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Convention (suppression of the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms)

Child labour. The Committee notes the concerns expressed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child with regard to child labour, particularly of children who are working as domestic workers, in agricultural work, in mines or panning for gold and the absence of legal measures to prevent and combat the trafficking of children for the purposes of making them work. The Committee has also been informed of a programme to combat child labour established in collaboration with the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures which have been taken in relation to child labour, and particularly the trafficking of children.

Article 2, paragraph 2(a) (compulsory military service)

In its previous comments, the Committee referred to section L6.2 of the Labour Code, which provides that the expression "compulsory labour" does not include work required in the public interest by legislative provisions on the organization of defence, the creation of a national service or participation in development. The Committee notes that, under Act No. 87-48 AN-RM with respect to the requisitioning of persons and property (section 25), requisitioning may take place outside situations of mobilization or wartime. The Committee recalls that the exception provided for in Article 2, paragraph 2(a), of the Convention, only covers work of a purely military character and that the use of compulsory labour for the purposes of development is also contrary to Article 1(b) of the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), which has also been ratified by Mali. The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Conventions on forced labour in this respect, particularly by abolishing the use of compulsory labour for the purposes of development and by specifying that requisitioning is reserved for emergency situations, such as those defined in Article 2, paragraph 2(d), of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken for this purpose in its next report.

Article 2, paragraph 2(e) (minor village work)

The Committee notes that the Labour Code refers to the work decided upon by a local community as a whole (section L6.4). It requests the Government to provide examples of such work and copies of decisions taken by local communities.