Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to the following legislation:

(i)     the Public Order and Security Act, No. 20 of 1967, empowering the executive to restrict an individual’s association or communication with others, independently of the commission of any offence and subject to penalties involving compulsory labour;

(ii)    sections 54(2)(c), 55, 56 and 56A of the Penal Code, empowering the minister to declare any combination of two or more people an unlawful society and thus render any speech, publication or activity on behalf of, or in support of, such combination illegal and punishable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour).

As the Committee repeatedly pointed out, any penal sanctions involving an obligation to perform prison labour are contrary to the Convention when imposed on persons convicted for expressing political views or views opposed to the established political system, or having contravened a widely discretionary administrative decision depriving them of the right to publish their views or suspending or dissolving certain associations (see, for example, paragraphs 152–166 of its 2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour).

The Committee expresses the firm hope that the necessary measures will at last be taken to repeal or amend the abovementioned provisions of the Public Order and Security Act, No. 20 of 1967, and of the Penal Code, in order to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention, and that the Government will provide, in its next report, information on progress made in this regard.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.