Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1998, publiée 87ème session CIT (1999)

The Committee takes note of the report sent by the Government in November 1996 and its current report. The Committee recalls that the case in question was discussed by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in 1993, when it noted a number of grave violations of the Convention and decided to resume its discussions at a later date. In this regard, the Committee takes note of the comments made by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) in October 1997 and the Government's reply in November 1998.

1. The Committee notes that the comments made by the WCL relate to forced labour practices (slavery, debt bondage or actual bondage) affecting indigenous peoples especially in the Atalaya and Ucayali regions. According to the WCL, the communities most affected by these practices are the Ashaninka communities living in the Alto Ucayali between Atalaya and Bolognesi. The forms of forced labour to which they are subjected are centred on agriculture, cattle raising and logging. The most common form of forced labour affecting the Ashaninkas is debt bondage through a system known as "enganche o habilitación" by which indigenous workers are provided with means of subsistence and work, creating a debt which the worker has to pay off by producing goods or services. The debts may be short-term and subject to a contract, or permanent, forcing workers to live within the confines of the hacienda, forming a kind of feudal area in which a number of indebted workers work and live without having the means to pay off their debts.

2. The Committee notes that the Government's reply does not contain any details concerning the WCL's comments which, according to the Government, relate to incidents in the Atalaya region which have since been remedied. In this regard, the Committee urges the Government to provided detailed information on the allegations that have been presented, in particular concerning the practice of "enganche o habilitación" which has been the subject of comment for a number of years. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the measures that it intends to take to remedy the practices of forced labour prohibited by the Convention, in particular debt bondage, which mostly affects the Ashaninka communities of Atalaya and Ucayali.

3. In its previous observation concerning the indigenous communities of Atalaya, the Committee asked the Government to take the necessary measures to eradicate the various practices equivalent to forced labour within the meaning of Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Convention, in particular debt bondage, certain forms of deceitful or violent recruitment of labour, subhuman conditions of work and the exploitation of children in the indigenous communities of Atalaya. According to the Government's report of 1996, the Atalaya Labour and Social Promotion Zone was established by Supreme Resolution No. 056-94-TR of September 1994. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of cases brought before the Permanent Labour Authority of the Zone concerning practices of forced labour involving minors and other persons, including members of the indigenous or native communities, and the sanctions imposed on offenders in accordance with Article 25.

4. In its previous report, the Government indicated that the General Directorate of Labour and Social Promotion of Ucayali had started a joint inspection programme coordinated between the judicial authority, police, Public Ministry, Ministry of Agriculture and Prefecture. These inspections in the Atalaya region revealed that the region has over 100 cattle ranches and lumber plantations employing 1,430 workers out of a total of 28,800 workers in the area. The inspections also showed that most of the indigenous population settled along the banks of the Ucayali and Urubamba rivers are employed in logging in inaccessible areas, working for employers ("madereros") who pay for their services with food and clothing. Other irregularities were found with regard to working hours, which increased considerably during the harvest season, and with regard to weekly rest and holidays. The Committee also notes that the Government states that it is applying appropriate sanctions for these infractions and monitoring has been made easier by the presence in the area of the labour authorities. While noting the difficulties posed by the payment of wages in kind in cases of forced labour as defined in the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the sanctions imposed and the number of infractions reported in this area, in accordance with Article 25.

5. The Committee previously noted the comments presented by the National Federation of Miners, Metal Workers and Iron and Steel Workers of Peru (FNTMMSP), concerning dishonest hiring practices known as "enganche" on the part of individuals, for the most part in Puno and Cuzco, who recruit for mining enterprises holding licences from the National Directorate of Mines. The contracts offered are usually for 90 days (hence the term "noventeros" for these workers) after which the employers are supposed to cover the costs of workers' return journeys; they generally fail to do so, with the result that the workers are unable to return to their place of origin. It was also alleged that wages were too low, working hours too long and medical care non-existent, despite the high risk of contacting diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, rabies and uta; and that work in inhuman conditions was being done by large numbers of minors, according to the report "Minors working in the Madre de Dios washeries" drawn up by the Coordinating Committee of the Rights of the Child, Inka region. In this regard the Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in 1996 on the progress in court proceedings against a group of contractors for violation of personal liberty in the methods used in the coercion and trafficking of minors and violation of freedom of labour. Recalling Article 25, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide a copy of the directive drawn up in December 1993 to establish rules regulating the movement of workers to the gold washeries, agricultural plantations, livestock ranches and the like in the areas of Madre de Dios, Kosñipata, Lares and other towns in the area, and to inform the Office of the practical results of applying this directive.

6. The Committee observes that, although certain measures have been taken to eradicate the situations referred to above from the indigenous communities of Atalaya and the gold mines and washeries of Madre de Dios, there are, nonetheless, problems which still call for energetic and sustained action on the part of the authorities. The Committee trusts once again that the Government will take the necessary measures to end the practices whereby many workers, including minors, are subjected to forced labour within the meaning of the Convention.

7. In a direct request in relation to Article 2, paragraph 2(c), concerning compulsory prison labour as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, the Committee asked the Government to supply information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the voluntary nature of work done by prisoners, given that, according to section 65 of the Code for the Execution of Sentences, work is a right and a duty of the prisoner, and that the second chapter on labour does not specify the voluntary character of work done by convicted prisoners. The Committee notes that the Government states in its report that the Constitution expressly states that no one is obliged to work without pay or without his or her freely given consent. Similarly, the Government indicates that the reduction of sentences through work and education, which is provided for in section 65 of the Code for the Execution of Sentences, is a preparatory measure aimed at encouraging prisoners' interest in work and education. Section 67 of the same Code provides that work in prisons must be paid and must facilitate the rehabilitation of the prisoners.

8. The Committee recalls that under the Convention, work may only be exacted from prisoners as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, which does not prevent persons detained while awaiting trial or sentencing from working on a purely voluntary basis, should they decide to do so. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures to establish the voluntary nature of work done by prisoners and that it will supply information in this regard in its next report.

9. As regards section 131(c) of the Regulations under the Code for the Execution of Sentences, under which work for prisoners may be provided by private individuals through the prison administration, the Committee previously noted that the Government was examining the adoption of the necessary measures to give full effect to the Convention and to establish, in express terms in the relevant legal provisions, the need for the consent of the prisoners to do work for private individuals. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on this point.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 87th Session.]