Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2007, publiée 97ème session CIT (2008)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Civic service. Since 1986, the Committee has been drawing 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 on civic service, as amended and supplemented by Act No. 86‑11 of 19 August 1986, under which it was possible to require persons who had completed a course of higher education or training to perform a period of civic service of from two to four years in order to obtain employment or exercise an occupation. The Committee notes that Ordinance No. 06-06 of 15 July 2006, approved by Act No. 06-15 of 14 November 2006, has lowered the minimum length of civic service from two years to one year. Consequently, the length of civic service may now vary, depending on the training and the geographical area, from one to four years instead of the former two to four years. The Committee points out that this reduction in length of the minimum civic service in no way changes the fact that the service is exacted under the menace of a penalty within the meaning of Article 2(1) of the Convention, and therefore amounts to forced labour under the terms of the Convention.

The Government indicated in a previous report that civic service is a statutory period of work performed for a public administration, body or enterprise in local communities by persons submitted to the civic service. 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 respecting the general conditions of service of workers, including the right to receive remuneration from the employing entity 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. The Government further indicated that persons covered by civic service are assigned exclusively to the specialized branch or discipline in which they were trained.

The Committee took due note of these explanations. However, it also pointed 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 result in their prohibition from exercising an activity on their own account, and that any violation is punishable under section 243 of the Penal Code. Similarly, under sections 33 and 34 of the Act, before they engage workers, all private employers 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 a menace because, in the event of refusal, they are denied access to any professional self-employed activity or to any employment in the private sector, as a result of which civic service falls within the concept of compulsory labour within the meaning of Article 2(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 again reiterates that forced labour means any work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. Referring once 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 measures adopted in this respect.

The Committee further notes that under section 2 of Ordinance No. 06-06 of 15 July 2006, civic service may be performed in private sector health establishments in accordance with arrangements set forth in regulations. The Committee refers the Government to paragraph 56 of its General Survey of 1979 on the abolition of forced labour in which it pointed out that according to Paragraph 3(3) of the Special Youth Schemes Recommendation, 1970 (No. 136), the services of participants should not be used for the advantage of private persons or undertakings. The Committee expresses the hope that the Government will take this into account, and requests it to indicate whether regulations have been adopted to specify arrangements under which civic service may be performed in private sector health establishments and, if so, to provide a copy. Please also indicate whether, in practice, persons subject to the civic service requirement perform such service in private sector health establishments, and provide any other information allowing the extent of this practice to be assessed (number of persons and establishments concerned, length of service, etc.) together with information on the working conditions of the persons concerned.

Article 2(2)(a). National service. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to Ordinance No. 74-103 of 15 November 1974 issuing the National Service Code, under which conscripts are required to take part in the running of various sectors of the economy and the administration. It has also referred to the Order of 1 July 1987, under which conscripts, after three months of military training, must serve in priority sectors of national activity, and particularly as teachers. The Committee noted that they are further required to perform civic service for a period of between one and four years, as explained above. The Committee recalled that, under the terms of Article 2(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.

The Committee notes the information on this matter sent by the Government in its last report to the effect that the civic form of national service has not been used since 2001. It notes the Government’s statement that this de facto suspension will be reflected in law as soon as the reform of the National Service Code is placed on the agenda. The Committee requests the Government to send information on any developments in this matter showing that the national legislation has been aligned with practice and hence with the provisions of the Convention, and to provide copies of the relevant texts.

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