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Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Chad (RATIFICATION: 1960)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments initially made in 2014.

Repetition

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Freedom of career members of the armed forces to leave their employment. Under the terms of section 103 of Ordinance No. 006/PR/92 of 28 April 1992 issuing the general conditions of service of military personnel, permanent termination of military service is a result of resignation, dismissal, retirement or death. In cases where the member of the armed forces “has received specialized training and has not reached the term of the period during which he undertook to remain in service” or “has not reached the end of the period required for entrance into military training schools”, resignation will only be accepted “for exceptional reasons” (sections 104 and 105). The Committee emphasizes that career members of the armed forces must be able to leave the service in time of peace, within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals, or with previous notice, or subject to proportional reimbursement over a certain period of the cost of training. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which applications for resignation by career members of the armed services are generally treated (number of applications to resign, number of resignations accepted or refused, time taken to process such applications and, where appropriate, reasons for refusal). With reference, more particularly, to section 105 of the general conditions of service of military personnel, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the period of engagement that is required for entry into the military school and the period required after receiving specialized training. Please also indicate whether members of the armed forces who have received specialized training, and who wish to bring an end to their engagement before the completion of the period for which they undertook to remain in service, may resign if they reimburse part of the cost of the training that they received.

2. Trafficking in persons. The Committee notes that, in reply to its request concerning the measures adopted to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, the Government refers to financial and material problems in the application of the legislative texts and the lack of training of those working with the law. The Committee observes in this regard that, within the framework of its project “Strengthening Chad’s Capacity to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Persons”, the International Organization for Migration has published qualitative observations on the phenomenon of trafficking in persons in Chad. The Committee also notes that, in the replies provided by Chad to the United Nations Human Rights Committee concerning the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Government indicated that, to combat trafficking in persons, an inter-ministerial committee had been established on 17 October 2013 with responsibility, among other matters, for proposing the amendment of the national laws and regulations in force and coordinating all activities by ministerial departments involved in combating trafficking in persons (CCPR/C/TCD/Q/2/Add.1 of 18 February 2014). While noting the difficulties referred to by the Government, the Committee hopes that it will be able to indicate, in its next report, the measures adopted to raise awareness of the phenomenon of trafficking and to strengthen its legislative framework so as to have adequate legislative provisions to combat trafficking in persons, both for sexual exploitation and for labour exploitation, so that the competent authorities are better able to identify cases of trafficking, prosecute those responsible and protect victims. Please provide information on the activities carried out by the Inter-ministerial Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Article 2(2)(c). Prison labour. The Committee notes that, in the information provided by Chad to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Government refers to the adoption in 2011 of a new Act on prisons and to Ordinance No. 032/PR/2012 on the organization of prisons. The Committee requests the Government to provide copies of these two texts.

Article 25. Imposition of effective penal sanctions. Once again in the information provided by Chad to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Committee observes that the Government refers to a new draft Penal Code. Considering that only section 190 of the Labour Code currently establishes penalties for the exaction of forced labour, and these penalties are not of the penal and dissuasive nature required by Article 25 of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the opportunity of the adoption of this new Penal Code to criminalize and establish penalties for forced labour.