Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Congo (Ratification: 1960)

Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Exploitation of the labour of the indigenous people known as “Pygmies”. The Committee has taken note of a report of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, published in 2007 following a research and information visit to Congo in September 2005. The Committee notes that, according to the report, the practice of “Pygmies’ masters”, which is similar to slavery, persists in some regions of Congo. The report refers to instances of “whole ‘Pygmy’ families or … individuals in the service of an individual or family”; “masters” claiming “to act as guarantor in relation to any problems their ‘Pygmies’ may possibly encounter and, in return, they have the right to complete devotion and to demand unpaid labour in the field …”; indigenous “Pygmies”, “who are supposed to carry out all kinds of work, at any time and under any conditions”; “masters”, who are the owners “of the fruits of labour that their ‘Pygmies’ have carried out against payment from a third party; in other words, some ‘masters’ even demand the salaries of their ‘Pygmies’.” The report also indicates that the rare “Pygmies” who have access to employment suffer various forms of discrimination such as unwarranted deductions from their pay on the part of some paying agents who take advantage of their illiteracy, and the payment of part of their salary to their “masters”. The Committee notes that the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities recommends that the Government “take measures to put an end to the practice of ‘Pygmies’ masters’ and punish all those who take part in it”. The Committee would be grateful if, in its next report, the Government would provide detailed information on the situation of these populations in the light of the protection afforded by the Convention. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure that they are not subjected to work to which they have not consented or were unable to give proper consent.

Article 2, paragraph 2(c). Work exacted as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law. 1. The Committee notes that, according to section 629 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, persons serving a custodial sentence are required to work. Section 637(1) provides that a decree shall determine the organization and internal regime of prison establishments. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of this decree and any other text regulating the work of prisoners.

2. The Committee notes that, according to section 7 of Decree No. 99-86 of 19 May 1999 on the work and organization of the Prison Administration General Directorate, the Directorate for Penalty Enforcement is responsible for organizing community work and other alternative penalties. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether any such penalties have been handed down and, if so, to specify the legislative or regulatory provisions governing the conditions in which such penalties may be imposed and the conditions in which they are enforced. Please provide copies of the relevant texts.