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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Niger (Ratification: 1961)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Niger (Ratification: 2015)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. The Committee previously noted that the Government had strengthened its legislative and institutional framework to combat trafficking in persons by adopting Ordinance No. 2010-086 of 16 December 2010 concerning measures to combat trafficking in persons in Niger and Decrees Nos 2012-082/PRN/MJ and 2012 083/PRN/MJ of 21 March 2012, which set up the National Committee to Coordinate Action against Trafficking in Persons (CNCLTP) and the National Agency to Combat Trafficking in Persons (ANLTP), respectively.

The Government has provided a copy of these texts in its latest report. The Committee notes that the Ordinance of 2010 defines the components of the offence of trafficking in persons, as well as related offences and the applicable penalties. It also establishes the framework of a comprehensive policy to combat trafficking in persons based on a number of core elements that include prevention, repression, measures of protection, aid and assistance to victims, as well as international cooperation. The Committee notes that the CNCLTP is responsible for promoting, designing and drawing up policies and programmes related to preventing and combating trafficking in persons. For its part, the ANLTP is the operational structure for delivering and implementing the policies adopted. The operating costs of these bodies are covered by the state budget. Finally, it is planned to set up a special compensation fund for the victims.

The Committee takes due note of the legislative and institutional framework to combat trafficking in persons. It notes the Government’s indication that the CNCLTP has adopted its rules of procedure and that the National Action Plan to combat trafficking in persons is being drafted. The Government also refers to activities to combat trafficking in children (young persons’ brigades within the national police force and training and awareness-raising seminars organized for the police force and magistrates). The Committee strongly encourages the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that both the CNCLTP and the ANLTP have the necessary resources to carry out their tasks and duties. It hopes that, in its next report, the Government will not only be able to state that the National Action Plan to combat trafficking in persons has been adopted but that it will also provide information on the awareness-raising and training activities that have been carried out, as well as on the manner in which the authorities ensure that the victims enjoy the protection provided for in law. The Government is also requested to provide copies of the activity reports that the CNCLTP should produce every year, as well as the ANLTP’s annual work programmes.

2. Freedom of career members of the armed forces and public servants to leave the service. In its previous comments, the Committee recalled that public servants, including voluntary career personnel of the armed forces, must be free to leave the service within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with prior notice. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government on the length of the contracts of employment of officers and non commissioned officers in the armed forces and of members of the national gendarmerie. The Committee also notes that the statutory regulations applied to both public servants and military staff have been amended. The Committee therefore requests the Government to send a copy of Ordinance No. 2010-75 of 9 December 2010 concerning the status of the military staff of the armed forces of Niger and the national gendarmerie, as well as of Act No. 2007-26 of 23 July 2007 issuing the general regulations of the public service and its implementing Decree (Decree No. 2008-244/PRN of 31 July 2008). The Committee also asks the Government to provide, in its next reports, information on the number of requests to resign made by public servants and the career staff of the armed forces that have been refused, and the grounds for these refusals, which will enable the Committee to ensure that these public servants are free to leave the service within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with prior notice.

3. Indirect compulsion to work in the event of vagrancy. The Committee recalls that, according to sections 177 and 178 of the Penal Code, vagrants, who are defined as persons with no fixed abode or means of subsistence and who normally do not have a trade or occupation, are liable to a prison term of between three to six months. It considered that these legal provisions punishing vagrancy defined it too broadly, so that it might become a means of indirect compulsion to work. The Committee trusts that the Government will take the necessary steps to bring sections 177 and 178 of the Penal Code in line with the Convention at the earliest date, ensuring that only persons who disrupt public order by unlawful acts may be liable to the penalties for the offence of vagrancy set out in sections 177 and 178 of the Penal Code.