Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Liberia (Ratification: 1931)

The Committee notes with regret that no report has been received from the Government for the third year in succession. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request.

Referring to its earlier comments and the general observation on the Convention made in its report to the 87th Session of the International Labour Conference (1999), the Committee, to be able to ascertain the state of the national legislation with regard to the Convention, requests the Government to supply information on the following points:

(1)  Please indicate the statutory instruments governing the resignation from service by State officials and career military personnel, and send copies of the relevant texts.

(2)  Please indicate any law establishing a compulsory national service, and send a copy thereof.

(3)  Please send copies of any statutory instruments governing work or service exacted in cases of emergencies or providing for compulsory cultivation.

(4)  Please indicate any legal provisions applicable to local public works, self-help projects and minor communal services and indicate the actual practice in the matter.

(5)  Please indicate the provisions of laws, rules and regulations governing prison labour and send copies thereof; in this connection please also specify the present position in law and practice as regards:

(i)  whether there are prisons administered by private concerns, profit-making or otherwise;

(ii)  whether any private prison contractors deploy prisoners to work either inside or outside prison premises, either for the account of the contractor or for that of another enterprise;

(iii)  whether private parties are admitted by the prison authorities into prison premises of any kind for the purpose of engaging prisoners in employment;

(iv)  whether employment or prisoners outside prison premises, either for a public authority or for a private enterprise, is allowed; 

(v)  the conditions in which employment under any of the above conditions takes place, in respect of remuneration (indicating the level and comparing it with any minimum wage normally applicable to such work), benefits accruing (such as pension rights and workers’ compensation), observance of occupational safety and health legislation and other conditions of employment (e.g. through labour inspection), and how those conditions are determined;

(vi)  what the source of any remuneration is (whether from public or private funds) and for what purposes it must or may be applied (e.g. for the personal use of the prisoner or if it is subject to compulsory deductions);

(vii)  for whose benefit is the product of prisoners’ work and any surplus profit deriving from it, after deduction of overheads, and how it is disbursed;

(viii)  how the consent of the prisoners concerned is guaranteed, so that it is free from the menace of any penalty, including any loss of privileges or other disadvantages following from a refusal to work.