Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Papua New Guinea (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its earlier comments.

Freedom of persons in the service of the State to terminate employment. The Committee notes that, according to section 2.2, Chapter 41 ("Resignation - Officers"), of the Defence Force Act, the commander of the Defence Force may reject the resignation of an officer if, in the opinion of the commander, such resignation would seriously prejudice the ability of the Defence Force to carry out current or future operations. According to section 5 of the same chapter, the Defence Council may accept or reject the resignation of an officer.

The Committee previously recalled that it had considered that the effect of statutory provisions preventing termination of employment of indefinite duration by means of notice of reasonable length is to turn a contractual relationship based on the will of the parties into service by compulsion of law, and is thus incompatible with the Conventions relating to forced labour. Furthermore, the provisions relating to compulsory military service included in the forced labour Convention 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 the continuity of the service (see paragraphs 68 and 72 of the 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour).

The Committee therefore hopes that the necessary measures will be taken in order to bring the abovementioned provisions of the Defence Force Act into conformity with the Convention on this point. It also requests the Government to provide, in its next report, a copy of the provisions specifying the required period of service to be completed by the officer in return for training received (Chapters 84 and 89 of the Defence Force Act), to which reference is made in the Government’s report.