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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 2019)

Article 2, paragraph 2, subparagraph (d), of the Convention. Powers of requisitioning. In its earlier comments, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the need to repeal or amend Act No. 63-4 of 17 January 1963 on the use of persons for the purpose of promoting the country’s economic and social development, and also Decree No. 63-48 of 9 February 1963 implementing the Act. The Act makes possible the requisitioning of persons over 18 years of age for the performance of certain tasks of national interest, with a view to promoting the country’s economic and social development. The requisitions are made under conditions fixed by decree, either by individual order, or by means of a collective order concerning a specific activity. The requisition cannot exceed two years, but it can be renewed. It can also be inferred from sections 1 and 2 of Decree No. 63-48, read in conjunction, that the powers of requisitioning are defined too broadly and go beyond the exceptional circumstances covered by Article 2(2)(d) of the Convention. In its latest report, received in June 2009, the Government indicates that these texts will be revised so as to limit the State’s powers of requisitioning to circumstances that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population. The Government adds that in practice it ceased to have recourse to requisitioning a long time ago. In these circumstances, the Committee trusts that the Government will be in a position to indicate, in its next report that the above texts have been revised so that powers of requisitioning are strictly confined to circumstances endangering or liable to endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population, thereby ensuring that they are in conformity with the Convention.

Trafficking in persons. In its previous direct request, the Committee asked the Government to supply detailed information on the measures taken to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. In particular, it asked the Government to indicate, where applicable, whether legal proceedings had already been initiated against the perpetrators of such practices, indicating the legal provisions on the basis of which these persons had been prosecuted and the sentences handed down. Finally, the Committee requested the Government to indicate the difficulties encountered by the public authorities in this field.

In its last report, the Government limits itself to referring to the information provided in its reports on the application of the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), with the indication that trafficking in children is a new phenomenon and that trafficking in persons, except for cases in which children are victims, does not exist in Côte d’Ivoire. However, the Committee notes that the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons published in February 2009 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that the specific offence of trafficking in persons does not exist in the legislation of Côte d’Ivoire, but that laws criminalizing related forms are used to prosecute some types of trafficking. It also refers to investigations concerning the exaction of forced labour conducted between 2005 and 2007, which gave rise to prosecutions in 2005 and 2006, resulting in two convictions in 2006. The report also informs that specific laws criminalizing all forms of trafficking was pending with the competent authorities in 2007. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the progress relating to the bill criminalizing all forms of trafficking and to provide a copy when it has been adopted. In view of the information contained in the above UNODC report, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the measures adopted to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual and labour exploitation. Noting that prosecutions appear to have been brought against forced labour exploiters, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate whether certain of these cases are related to trafficking, and to indicate the provisions of the legislation under which the perpetrators have been prosecuted and the sentences handed down. The Committee trusts that the Government will also be in a position to indicate the difficulties encountered by the public authorities in combating trafficking in persons.