Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Colombia (Ratification: 1969)

Article 2, paragraph 2, subparagraph (a), of the Convention. Work exacted under compulsory military service laws. In its previous request, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the performance of compulsory military service by graduates as auxiliaries in the National Prison Guards and Surveillance Service and to indicate the number of persons involved. It recalled that any service in virtue of compulsory military service is excluded from the application of the Convention in so far as the work performed is of a purely military character.

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that 3,000 conscripts performed service in the National Prison Institute from December 2007 to December 2008. It also notes the duties assigned to these persons, which include guarding and inspecting prisoners, participating in educational activities and activities to promote social interaction among the prison population and participating in measures relating to the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s indication in its report, the work exacted from auxiliary graduates produces “suitable, capable and well-prepared staff within the prison system”. However, such duties are not tasks of a purely military character and do not therefore come under the exception set out in Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention which exempts from its scope any work exacted in virtue of compulsory military service laws for work of a purely military character.

The Committee requests the Government to examine this situation in the light of the provisions of the Convention and to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to bring the national legislation and practice relating to the work exacted from auxiliary graduates in the context of compulsory military service into conformity with the Convention.