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Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Republic of Moldova (RATIFICATION: 2000)

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The Committee notes the observations of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova (CNSM), received on 17 August 2022.

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. (i) Strategy to fight trafficking in persons. Implementation and assessment. The Committee notes the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for 2018–23 and its implementing Action Plans which focus on prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership in the field of countering trafficking in persons. The Committee further notes that the National Strategy provides for periodic monitoring of its implementation, notably through the elaboration and adoption of reports by the National Committee for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. The Committee requests the Government to provide summarized information on the assessment of the implementation of the National Strategy for 2018–23, including on the results achieved and the difficulties encountered in combatting trafficking in persons as well as on the measures taken or envisaged thereof.

(ii) Identification and protection of victims. According to the Government’s information, in 2021, 264 victims of trafficking for labour exploitation, including 84 women and 180 men, were identified. The majority of the identified victims of trafficking were exploited abroad. The assistance and protection centres for victims and potential victims of trafficking provided support services to 58 victims, including 30 women and 28 men, in 2021. According to the Government, in 2021, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration, established a shelter to provide accommodation and assistance to male victims of trafficking. The Committee also takes note of the adoption in 2022 of the Program for the development of the National Referral Mechanism for protection and assistance of crime victims for 2022–26 and its implementing Action Plan for 2022–24. The Committee encourages the Government to continue to take measures to ensure that victims of trafficking in persons for both sexual and labour exploitation are identified and that they are provided with appropriate protection, assistance and compensation, as provided for under part III of the Act No. 241/2005 on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the National Referral Mechanism.

(iii) Prosecution and application of dissuasive penal sanctions. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that in 2021, 51 prosecutions were initiated under section 165 (trafficking in persons) of the Criminal Code, following which 25 indictments were filed in court and 18 persons were sentenced to imprisonment. The Government also indicates that several large-scale police operations were jointly carried out by the police of the Republic of Moldova and other countries, particularly Romania, France and Italy, to identify the cases of trafficking in persons for the purpose of labour exploitation in 2021.

The Committee notes that in its observations, the CNSM indicates that the Republic of Moldova continues to be a country of origin of trafficking in persons for labour and sexual exploitation. The CNSM reiterates that corruption impedes the effective enforcement of legislation and prosecution of trafficking in persons cases. It also refers to the 2020 report of the Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings by the Republic of Moldova, in which the GRETA expressed concern about the lengthy criminal proceedings in trafficking in persons cases which may have a negative effect on the victims and the outcome of prosecution.

The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that law enforcement bodies carry out prompt investigations in all cases of trafficking in persons to allow for effective prosecutions, including in cases of complicity of officials, and for the imposition of sufficiently dissuasive penalties on perpetrators. The Committee further requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties imposedunder section 165 of the Criminal Code.

2. Forced labour practices. The Committee previously requested the Government to provide information on the application of section 168 (the use of forced labour) of the Criminal Code in practice. The Government indicates that in 2021, four convictions were handed down against five persons for the use of forced labour. In particular, one person was sentenced to imprisonment, two were sentenced to probation, and one was sentenced to a fine.

Recalling that under Article 25 of the Convention, the imposition of forced labour shall be punishable with penal sanctions that are adequate and dissuasive, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the prosecutions and sentences handed down in relation to the use of forced labour with an indication of the nature of the sanctions imposed.

Article 2(2)(c). 1. Work of prisoners for private entities. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee takes due note that according to section 546 of the Decree No. 583 of 2006 on the Status for Execution of Punishment by Convicts, convicts may be engaged in work, with their written consent, in accordance with their physical and mental condition, abilities and profession as well as subject to a medical examination. The Committee further notes that the provisions of the labour legislation concerning working hours, rest periods and occupational safety and health apply to convicts (section 556 of Decree No. 583 of 2006).

2. Sentence of community work. The Committee notes that sections 62 and 67 of the Criminal Code provide, among the penal sanctions that can be imposed by courts, the penalty of community work, which consists of an obligation to perform unpaid work for the benefit of the society during a period from 60 to 240 hours. Furthermore, section 37 of the Code on Offences No. 218 of 2008 sets out the penalty of community work as an administrative sanction imposed by courts. According to Government Decree No. 1643 of 2003 approving the Procedure for the Execution of Criminal Sentences of Unpaid Work for the Benefit of the Community, community work is performed at social facilities of organizations, institutions and enterprises regardless of their organizational and legal form (sections 4 and 5). The Government Decree also sets out an open-ended list of works which may be performed by convicted persons sentenced to community work (annex 2).

The Committee recalls that, where community work may be performed for the benefit of private entities, such as charitable associations or institutions, the conditions for its performance should be adequately managed and supervised to ensure that the work undertaken is effectively work of general interest and that the entities for which it is carried out are non-profit-making (see the Committee’s 2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour, paragraph 204). The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the number of convicted persons who performed community work for private entities as well as the nature and types of community work performed in this regard.