Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Peru (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Peru (Ratification: 2021)

The Committee notes the observations sent by the Single Confederation of Workers of Peru (CUT) on 25 June 2013, and the Government’s report.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Efforts to combat forced labour. The Committee observes that, for a number of years, the Government has been taking steps to combat the various forms of forced labour that exist in Peru (debt bondage inflicted on indigenous peoples in the logging sector, trafficking in persons and the exploitation of women in domestic service). The creation of the National Committee to Combat Forced Labour (CNLTF) and the adoption of the first National Plan to Combat Forced Labour in 2007 have constituted the central components of this policy. In this respect, the Committee points out that the Government has benefited from the International Labour Office’s integrated technical assistance, including the funding allocated under the Special Programme Account (SPA) to strengthen the application of international labour standards.

(a) National Plan to Combat Forced Labour (PNLCTF). The Committee notes with interest the adoption, under Supreme Decree No. 04-2013-TR of 9 June 2013, of the second National Plan to Combat Forced Labour (PNLCTF-II), which covers the 2013–17 period. This Plan was drawn up as part of a participatory process including representatives from the regions particularly affected by forced labour, such as Ulcayali, Madre de Dios, Cusco, Loreto and Puno, which should facilitate its implementation. With a view to achieving the overall objective of eradicating forced labour by 2017, the Plan advocates the following prerequisites: a baseline study, available between now and 2014, that will constitute a comprehensive review of forced labour in the country; pilot interventions conducted in 2013–14 in the regions and sectors of activity where cases of forced labour have been observed (logging, artisanal mines, domestic work); and the strengthening of the CNLTF’s capacities. This Plan also establishes three strategic objectives: (i) training and awareness raising about the characteristics, extent and causes of forced labour, and about the groups and regions affected; (ii) the establishment and implementation of an integrated system that will identify, protect and reintegrate victims by structuring and coordinating the roles, procedures and tools of the various entities concerned; and (iii) the identification and reduction of the vulnerability factors inherent in forced labour. Activities have been planned and objectives defined for each of the strategic objectives. Furthermore, the Committee notes that an intersectoral protocol on forced labour is being drawn up, which should serve as a methodological tool to help public and private institutions implement the PNLCTF-II.

The Committee notes that the PNLCTF-II provides for a mechanism to monitor and assess its performance, and requests the Government to provide information on the annual evaluation reports that will be prepared in this context, and to specify whether the obstacles preventing the implementation of these objectives, which have been identified, were taken into account when reviewing the annual operational plans. While noting that the funding of the activities planned in the PNLCTF-II is contingent upon the various public, national, regional and local competent entities responsible for obtaining budget lines to carry out the Plan’s activities, the Committee trusts that the Government will not fail to generate the necessary political leadership to ensure that the resources required for the effective implementation of this second National Plan are made available. In this respect, it strongly encourages the Government to strengthen the capacities of the CNLTF, both at national and regional levels, and recalls that it is essential to strengthen the State’s presence in regions with a marked prevalence of forced labour.

(b) Legislative measures. In its previous comments, the Committee underscored the need to supplement the national legislation by adopting a penal provision that expressly criminalizes forced labour and defines its various components in order to cover all forced labour practices that exist in the country. In its report, the Government states that the CNLTF subcommittee has drafted a proposed amendment to section 168 of the Penal Code concerning infringements freedom at work. This will then be submitted to the CNLTF for approval in the near future and subsequently brought before the National Human Rights Council so that the Council might introduce a bill to the Congress of the Republic.

In its observations, the CUT stresses that the present drafting of section 168 of the Penal Code is incomplete and that its amendment should be seen as a priority objective to be attained in the very near future. As far as the CUT is concerned, the proposal for amending section 168 of the Penal Code made by the Minister of Labour at the CNLTF meeting in April 2013 is positive and takes account of the recommendations made by the Committee of Experts.

The Committee notes that, as already envisaged in the 2012–13 operational plan of the first PNLCTF, the issue of bringing national legislation in line with international standards on freedom at work and forced labour also features in the PNLCTF-II as an objective for 2013–14. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the national penal legislation is supplemented as soon as possible to ensure that all forms of forced labour are punished effectively, either by amending section 168 of the Penal Code or by adding a provision in the Penal Code that criminalizes forced labour and defines its components.

(c) Diagnosis. The Committee notes that one of the objectives of the PNLCTF-II for 2014 is to have a baseline study that establishes a comprehensive review of forced labour in the country, with a view to systematizing available information and adopting institutional monitoring and updating mechanisms. The Government also refers to a study on the forced labour of children in charcoal production in the Pucallpa sawmills. According to the CUT, the PNLCTF-II acknowledges the lack of systematic data and the shortcomings in the institutional mechanisms preventing it from having a clear idea of the real situation of forced labour, and considers it necessary to have reliable information available so that it might identify the groups of persons affected, prepare a specific action plan to eradicate these practices and obtain the necessary financing for this purpose. The Committee hopes that the Government will take all the necessary steps to ensure that a qualitative and quantitative survey to supplement the information already available on various forced labour practices is finalized in 2014, as provided for by the PNLCTF-II. This data is vital for evaluating and achieving all the objectives of the PNLCTF-II, as well as for guaranteeing that the resources actually reach the populations and regions concerned.

(d) Labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee expressed its concern that, since it was set up in 2008, the special labour inspection unit to combat forced labour (GEIT) had not reported any case of forced labour. In this context, it noted that the 2012–13 operational plan intended to “reactivate and reinforce the GEIT”, pointing out that the “GEIT’s current problems” needed to be assessed and that measures should be promoted to build its capacity for mobility in the field and to provide it with adequate resources. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, a special labour inspection unit to combat forced and child labour was set up under a resolution dated 8 March 2013, which will consist of 15 labour inspectors. It adds that, in 2012, the General Labour Inspection Directorate ordered two inspections of two enterprises and 145 workers, but that no cases of forced labour were identified during these visits.

The Committee observes that, if the new specialized inspection group is to be made up of 15 inspectors (compared to five for the GEIT in 2008), it will be in charge of two thematics: forced labour and child labour. Moreover, the Committee points out that the PNLCTF-II no longer refers to strengthening the labour inspection services. The Committee recalls the essential role played by labour inspection in combating forced labour. Indeed, the labour inspection services constitute the public entity that is best placed to identify workers who are victims of forced labour and to free them, and also to gather evidence that will serve to initiate judicial proceedings against the perpetrators of these practices. Consequently, the Committee urges the Government to take appropriate measures to guarantee the effective functioning of the new special labour inspection unit to combat forced and child labour. The Government is asked to provide information on its composition, resources and material means at its disposal to accomplish its missions throughout the country, and to specify the number of inspections carried out, the cases of forced labour identified and the legal action taken on the offences reported.

Article 25. Application of effective penalties. The Committee has previously underlined that, in order to reduce forced labour, it is essential that the perpetrators of such practices be punished by sufficiently dissuasive penalties, in accordance with Article 25 of the Convention. It notes that the information provided by the Government on the complaints lodged with the public prosecutor only concern the offence of trafficking in persons (section 153 of the Penal Code). As the Committee has already pointed out, the absence of any penal provisions that specifically suppress and punish forced labour is a significant obstacle to the initiation of criminal proceedings against persons who impose forced labour in any other form than trafficking in persons. In these circumstances, the Committee insists once again on the need to supplement the penal legislation in order to criminalize forced labour specifically and define the offences it covers so that the police and prosecuting authorities have a basis in law for conducting proper investigations and bringing judicial actions against the perpetrators of the various forms of forced labour existing in Peru.

Finally, noting that the PNLCTF-II refers to the ILO as an organization that might provide standing technical assistance to the National Committee to Combat Forced Labour, the Committee hopes that the Office will continue to support the Government in this process of eradicating all forms of forced labour.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.