Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1961)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Mauritania (Ratification: 2016)

Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention. Prison labour. For many years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to Decree No. 70-153 of 23 May 1970, issuing the internal rules of prison establishments, of which certain provisions would appear to allow for the possibility of hiring prison labour to private individuals. The Committee drew the Government’s attention to Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention, under the terms of which any work or service exacted from a person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law is not considered to be forced labour only where the said work is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations. The Government indicated previously that in practice prison labour had never been hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals. In its 2006 report, the Government indicated that Decree No. 70-153 was not in contradiction with the provisions of the Convention as this practice consists of “internal hiring” resulting from a conviction in a court of law. In the absence of information on this matter in the last report, the Committee requests the Government to specify the notion of “internal hiring” and to confirm that in practice prison labour is not hired to a private entity (individuals or companies), either inside or outside prison premises, as a result of a conviction in a court of law.