Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

The Committee has taken note of the National Penitentiary Policy Steering Plan (http:jus.Gov.Ar., Ministry of Justice, Area legislativa y reglamentaria) which refers to a preliminary draft law on training and work in prisons intended to make inmates' work more flexible and to optimize potential productivity so that penitentiary work will be integrated into overall national production through the participation of private industry and of all production-linked sectors.

The Committee reminds the Government of the indications given in paragraphs 97 ff. of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, to the effect that prison work carried out by private undertakings is compatible with the Convention only on condition that the necessary guarantees exist to ensure that the persons concerned accept the work voluntarily, without being subjected to pressure or the threat of any penalty, and that there are, moreover, certain guarantees which ensure that the work will be carried out in conditions comparable to those of free workers in regard to wages, social security, working hours, etc.

The Committee requests the Government to send it a copy of the law on training and work in prisons once it has been adopted.

The Committee also notes the proposed amendment of the national prison act and requests the Government to send it a copy of the new law once it has been adopted.

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report on voluntary military service.