Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request:

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penalties involving compulsory labour as a punishment for expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to the Penal Code provisions imposing sanctions of imprisonment (which involves compulsory prison labour) in cases of incitement to agitation against the law or authorities (section 268), agitation against communities (section 269) and disturbance of the public order by openly declaring false facts or by spreading rumours (section 270). The Committee pointed out that, in most cases, labour imposed on persons as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law will have no relevance to the application of Convention No. 105, but if a person is in any way forced to work because he holds or has expressed certain political views, such a situation is covered by the Convention. On the other hand, the Committee always made it clear that the Convention does not prohibit punishment by penalties involving compulsory labour of persons who use violence, incite to violence or engaged in preparatory acts aimed at violence, but if sanctions involving compulsory labour enforce a prohibition of the expression of views or of opposition to the established political, social or economic system, such sanctions fall within the scope of the Convention.

The Committee has noted from the statistical information annexed to the Government’s report that, under section 269 of the Penal Code, nine prison sentences were imposed in 2001–05 for agitation against communities, and under section 270 of the Penal Code, eight prison sentences and five sentences of “public utility labour” were imposed for spreading rumours during the same period. No such information has been supplied as regards the application of section 268 of the Penal Code (incitement to agitation against the law or authorities). While having duly noted the Government’s explanations concerning the provisions of the national Constitution regarding the freedom of expression, the Committee again requests the Government to supply, with its next report, sample copies of the court decisions passed under the abovementioned sections of the Penal Code, which could define or illustrate their scope, in order to enable the Committee to ascertain that they are applied in a manner compatible with the Convention.