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

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons and forced labour. The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. However, it notes the observations of the Federation of Somali Trade Unions (FESTU), received on 28 August 2015, which state that Somalia is a source, transit, and destination country for trafficking in persons. Somali men work as herdsmen and as migrant workers in the Gulf States in conditions of forced labour. The FESTU also states that women are trafficked within Somalia for sexual exploitation and forced labour in agriculture, livestock herding, construction and domestic work. It indicates that section 14 of the Provisional Constitution of August 2012 prohibits trafficking and forced labour and that section 464 of the Penal Code provides for penalties of six months to five years of imprisonment for the exaction of forced labour. However, the FESTU states that these provisions are not implemented by the Government, and that neither investigations nor prosecutions have been carried out. The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to prevent and combat trafficking in persons for labour and sexual exploitation. In this regard, it requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that national legislation prohibiting trafficking and forced labour is effectively applied and to provide information in this respect.