Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Pakistan (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee notes the Government's reports.

In its previous direct requests, the Committee had requested the Government to supply information on the terms of enlistment and the conditions for resigning from active service for career military personnel. In its reports the Government repeats the indications already noted by the Committee in its previous comments.

The Committee therefore again draws the Government's attention to its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, particularly paragraphs 33 and 68 to 72, where it indicated that the provisions of Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention relating to compulsory military service do not apply to career military service and may not be invoked to deprive persons who have voluntarily entered into an engagement of the right to leave the service in peacetime within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with previous notice, subject to the conditions which may normally be required to ensure continuity of the service. As regards the cost of training qualified personnel, the Committee mentioned the possibility of proportional reimbursement which may be demanded during a certain period in the event of resignation.

The Committee, in order to ascertain the conformity of national legislation with the Convention, again requests the Government to provide a copy of the provisions governing the terms of service in the armed forces, with regard to conditions of enlistment and resignation, as well as any provisions applying in case of training received at the expense of the State.

The Committee also had asked the Government to supply a copy of the Compulsory Service in the Armed Forces Ordinance, No. XXXI of 1971.