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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Singapore (Ratification: 1965)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Legislation concerning destitute persons. For many years the Committee has been referring to certain provisions of the Destitute Persons Act, 1989, under which destitute persons may be required, subject to penal sanctions, to reside in a welfare home (sections 3 and 16) and to engage in any suitable work for which the medical officer of the home certifies them to be capable, either with a view to fitting them for employment outside the welfare home or with a view to contributing to their maintenance in the welfare home (section 13).

The Committee has pointed out that the imposition of labour under the Destitute Persons Act, 1989, comes under the definition of “forced or compulsory labour” in Article 2(1) of the Convention, and that the Convention makes no exception for labour imposed “in the context of rehabilitation” of destitute persons. While noting the Government’s repeated indications in its reports that, in practice, no coercion is involved, since residents in the welfare home perform work with their consent and receive payment for the work done, the Committee asked the Government to bring the legislative provisions into conformity with the Convention, so as to ensure compliance both in law and in practice.

The Committee previously noted the Government’s intention expressed in its 2006 report to amend the Act in order to better articulate the voluntary nature of the activity. However, the Committee notes that the Government’s latest report contains no information on any developments of this kind. The Committee trusts that section 13 of the Destitute Persons Act will at last be amended so as to provide clearly that any work in a welfare home should be carried out voluntarily, thus bringing the abovementioned legislation into conformity with the Convention and the indicated practice, and that the Government will soon be in a position to provide information on the progress achieved in this regard.