Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

1. Civic service. Since 1986 this Committee has drawn the Government's attention to the incompatibility with the Convention of sections 32, 33, 34 and 38 of Act No. 84-10 of 11 February 1984, as amended in 1986, which requires persons who have completed a course of higher education or training, to perform a period of civic service of between two and four years in order to obtain employment or exercise an occupation.

On this subject, the Government states in its latest report that civic service is a statutory period of work performed by persons under the authority of a public administration, body or enterprise in local communities. It represents the contribution of these persons to the economic, social and cultural development of the country. According to the Government, persons covered by civic service have the same rights and obligations as the workers governed by the legislation with regard to the general conditions of service of workers, including the right to receive remuneration at the expense of the employing body in accordance with the law. Furthermore, the years of civic service performed are taken into account for purposes of seniority, promotion and retirement, as well as in the contract period during which the person concerned is bound to a public body by a training contract. Finally, with regard to the incompatibility noted by the Committee, the Government recalls that persons covered by civic service carry out this service exclusively in the specialized branch or discipline in which they have been trained.

The Committee takes due note of these explanations. However, it also points out that under sections 32 and 38 of the Act, refusal to perform civic service and the resignation of the person concerned without acceptable grounds results in their prohibition from exercising an activity on their own account, such as setting up as a trader, craftworker or promoter of a private economic investment, and that any violation is punishable under section 243 of the Penal Code. Similarly, under sections 33 and 34 of the Act, all private employers before engaging workers are required to satisfy themselves that applicants are not covered by civic service or can produce documentation proving that they have discharged it, and that any private employer knowingly employing a citizen who has evaded civic service is liable to imprisonment and a fine. Therefore, although the persons liable to civic service benefit from working conditions (remuneration, seniority, promotion, retirement, etc.) similar to those of regular public sector workers, they discharge this service under threat because, in the event of their refusal, they are denied access to any professional self-employed activity or to any employment in the private sector. In those circumstances the requirement to perform civic service falls within the concept of compulsory labour contained in Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Furthermore, since it consists of a contribution by the persons concerned to the economic development of the country, this compulsory service violates Article 1(b) of Convention No. 105, which has also been ratified by Algeria.

The Committee recalls that forced labour means all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered her or himself voluntarily. Referring again to the explanations provided in paragraphs 55 to 62 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, the Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be taken to repeal or amend the provisions in question in the light of Conventions Nos. 29 and 105 and that the Government will soon be able to report on the provisions adopted to this end.

2. National service. In its earlier comments since 1988, the Committee has referred to Ordinance No. 74-103 of 15 November 1974 issuing the National Service Code, under which conscripts are required to contribute to the operation of various economic and administrative sectors. It has also referred to the Order of 1 July 1987, which requires conscripts, after three months of military training, to serve in priority sectors of national activity, and particularly as teachers. The Committee notes that these are also required to perform two, three or four years of civic service (see point 1 above). The Committee recalled that, under the terms of Article 2, paragraph 2(a), of the Convention, compulsory military service is excluded from the scope of the Convention only where conscripts are assigned to work of a purely military character. In the absence of information in the Government's latest report on this point, the Committee trusts that the needs of public education and other non-military sectors will be met without having recourse to compulsory labour and that the necessary measures will be taken to ensure compliance with the Convention on this matter. The Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report that the relevant provisions of the national legislation have been amended or repealed.

3. The Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government on certain other matters.