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

Communication of texts. The Committee has noted the Criminal Procedure Act, 2004, the Public Service Act, 1995 and the Merchant Shipping Act, 1951, as amended, supplied by the Government with its report. It again requests the Government to supply, with its next report, copies of the laws governing the press and other media, public assemblies, meetings and demonstrations, as well as political parties.

Article 1(c) of the Convention. Disciplinary measures applicable to seafarers. The Committee notes the provisions of sections 174(2)(b), (c) and (d); 175(1) and (2); and 176(1) and (2) of the Merchant Shipping Act, read in conjunction with section 313 of the same Act, under which penalties of imprisonment (involving, by virtue of section 81 of the Prisons Act, 1998, an obligation to perform labour) may be imposed for breaches of discipline such as desertion, absence without leave, disobedience and neglect of duty. Sections 321 and 322 of the same Act provide for the forcible conveyance of seafarers on board ship.

The Committee recalls that Article 1(c) expressly prohibits the use of any form of forced or compulsory labour as a means of labour discipline. As the Committee repeatedly pointed out, only acts which endanger the ship or the life or health of persons are excluded from the scope of the Convention (see e.g. paragraphs 179–181 of the Committee’s General Survey of 2007 on the eradication of forced labour). The Committee therefore hopes that the necessary measures will be taken with a view to amending the above provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, either by repealing sanctions involving compulsory labour or by restricting their application to situations where the ship or the life or health of persons are endangered (as is the case e.g. in section 174(1) of the same Act). The Committee requests the Government to provide, in its next report, information on progress made in this regard.