Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

The Committee has noted the Government’s report, as well as the comments on the application of the Convention made by the All Afghanistan Federation of Trade Unions (AAFTU), received with the report.

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to the following provisions of the Penal Code, under which prison sentences involving an obligation to perform labour may be imposed:

(a)   sections 184(3), 197(1)(a) and 240 concerning, inter alia, the publication and propagation of news, information, false or self-interested statements, biased or inciting propaganda concerning internal affairs of the country which reduces the prestige and standing of the State, or for the purpose of harming public interest and goods;

(b)   section 221(1), (4) and (5) concerning a person who creates, establishes, organizes or administers an organization under the name of a party, society, union or group with the aim of disturbing and nullifying one of the basic and accepted national values in the political, social, economic or cultural spheres of the State, or makes propaganda for its extension or attraction to it, by whatever means it may be, or who joins such an organization or establishes relations, himself or through someone else with such an organization or one of its branches.

While having noted the Government’s earlier indication concerning the special status given to prisoners convicted under the abovementioned sections of the Penal Code, the Committee pointed out that the imposition of sanctions involving compulsory labour on these persons remains contrary to the Convention, which prohibits the use of forced or compulsory labour as a means of political coercion or education or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system.

The Committee also refers in this connection to paragraphs 154 and 163 of its 2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour, where it observed that the Convention does not prohibit punishment by penalties involving compulsory labour of persons who use violence, incite to violence or engage in preparatory acts aimed at violence. But sanctions involving compulsory labour fall within the scope of the Convention where they enforce a prohibition of the peaceful expression of views or of opposition to the established political, social or economic system. A similar situation arises where certain political views are prohibited, subject to penalties involving compulsory labour, as a consequence of the prohibition of political parties or associations.

The Committee has noted the Government’s intention to prepare and supply to the ILO a separate report related to the penal law provisions, as well as the Government’s indications concerning the adoption of the new Prisons Law of 2005, which replaced the previous law of 1982, and the adoption in 2004 of the law related to the freedom of media. The Committee asks the Government to communicate copies of these laws with its next report and hopes that the abovementioned penal provisions will be re-examined in the light of the Convention with a view to ensuring that no sanctions involving forced or compulsory labour may be imposed as a punishment for holding or expressing political or ideological views and that the Government will indicate the measures taken to this end.