Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Mali (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Mali (Ratification: 2016)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the conditions under which penalties of work in the general interest may be applied. It notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to the other points raised in its previous direct request. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the following matters.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to provide information on any legal proceedings initiated to punish those responsible for trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation, specifying the legal basis of the proceedings and convictions and providing a copy of the relevant court decisions.

The Committee has noted that, in its latest reports, the Government mentions cases involving the trafficking of children which have given rise to criminal court proceedings. Noting this information, the Committee requests information on the steps taken by the Government to combat the trafficking of adults for the purpose of exploitation, since the specific problem of the trafficking of children is examined under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). It hopes that the Government will be able to provide full information in its next report on the steps taken or envisaged to prevent, suppress and punish the trafficking of persons, including detailed information on the court decisions handed down in this regard, specifying the provisions of the national legislation on which these decisions are based. Recalling also that the Government has still not provided the information requested in its general observation of 2000, the Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide that information in its next report.

Article 2(2)(a) and (d). In its previous comments the Committee noted that, under section L6(2) of the Labour Code, “work required in the public interest by legislative provisions on the organization of defence, the creation of a national service or participation in development” is not regarded as forced or compulsory labour. It also noted that requisitioning in situations other than mobilization or wartime is allowed under section 25 of Act No. 87-48 AN-RM on the requisitioning of persons and property, the objective of which is to determine the conditions governing the right to requisition in the cases envisaged by the Acts on the general organization of defence and state of emergency. In order to be able to assess the effect of these provisions on the application of the Convention, the Committee requested the Government to provide copies of the legislation on the organization of defence, national service and state of emergency. The Government indicated that it would provide a copy of the legislation on national service and state of emergency, but that it did not have the legislation on the organization of defence. The Government also reiterated that no use had ever been made of the provisions of section L6(2) of the Labour Code. It further stated that persons are requisitioned only in exceptional circumstances, namely in cases of force majeure or any circumstances that endanger or threaten to endanger the lives or normal living conditions of the whole or part of the population.

The Committee noted that the Government indicates difficulties encountered in obtaining and providing all information relating to national defence. It notes that the Government reiterates its commitment to provide this information as soon as it is available. The Committee hopes that the texts requested will be attached to the Government’s next report, including the Act on the organization of defence, so that the Committee may assess their effect on the application of the Convention.

Slavery-like practices and hereditary servitude. In its previous comments the Committee referred to the concluding observations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee following the consideration of the second periodic report of Mali in which the Committee regretted that Mali had not given a clear response to reports of slavery-like practices and hereditary servitude in the north of the country. While domestic law does not authorize such practices, the Committee expressed serious concern about their possible survival among the descendants of slaves and the descendants of slave-owners and invited Mali to conduct a careful study of the relations between the descendants of slaves and the descendants of slave-owners in the north of the country, with a view to determining whether slavery-like practices and hereditary servitude still continued (see report CCPR/CO/77/MLI, 16 April 2003, paragraph 16). The Committee recalled that slavery-like practices and hereditary servitude, if they were proven still to exist, would constitute a serious breach of the Convention. It requested the Government to provide detailed information on the situation in the north of the country, indicating, in particular, whether any investigations had been conducted in this region, and, if so, the results achieved and the measures taken by the Government. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to provide the information requested in its next report.