Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

The Committee notes that no report has been received from the Government. It must therefore repeat its previous observation on the following points:

  Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(c), of the Convention.  The Committee has since 1962 drawn the Government’s attention to sections 24, 77 and 82 of Decree No. 69-189 of 14 May 1969 (issued under sections 680 and 683 of the Criminal Procedure Code) which provides that prison labour may be hired to private individuals. The Committee has already recalled in numerous comments on this legislation that it is only when work is voluntarily accepted by prisoners and carried out in conditions similar to those of free employment relations (e.g. as to wages) that prison work for a private enterprise or person may be regarded as compatible with the Convention. The Committee refers to paragraphs 97 to 101 of the General Survey of 1979 on the abolition of forced labour and the more recent comments in its General Report of 1998, paragraph 125.

The Committee has noted the Government’s statement that the draft amendments to bring the above-mentioned Decree into conformity with the provisions of the Convention have not been completed. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments and any progress achieved in this regard. The Committee also reminds the Government that it may call upon the technical assistance of the International Labour Office to help with any difficulties encountered in bringing its legislation and practice into conformity with the Convention.

In addition, the Committee has become aware of information according to which there is a widespread practice of migrant labourers, including children particularly from Mali and Burkina Faso, being forced to work on plantations against their will. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would include information on this point in its next report.

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