Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1961)

Article 1(a) and (d) of the Convention. Penalties of imprisonment involving compulsory labour. With reference to its previous comments concerning penalties of imprisonment involving compulsory labour, the Committee notes the Government’s statement in its report submitted under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), that prisoners may only perform work upon their own request. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Regulations on the administration of penitentiaries and work centres of detention centres and administration, accounting and bidding of work centres (1998) and the Regulations pertaining to the administration of penitentiaries and detention centres and to the execution of sentences (1967), under which prison labour was compulsory for both convicted and remand prisoners, were repealed, respectively, by the Regulation on the Administration and Bidding of Penitentiaries and Work Centres of Detention Institutions (2005) and the Regulation on Administration of Penitentiaries and Execution of Sentences (2006). The Committee therefore observes that the application of penalties of imprisonment, including those previously examined under Article 1(a) and (d) of the Convention, do not fall within the scope of the Convention.

Article 1(b). Use of conscripts for purposes of economic development. The Committee previously noted that section 10 of the Military Service Act, No. 1111, as amended by Act No. 3358, as well as section 5 of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 87/11945 of 1987, adopted pursuant to section 10 of Act No. 1111, lay down procedures relating to the surplus reserves, including procedures concerning persons liable to perform military service who are assigned duties in public bodies and institutions. In this regard, it noted the Government’s statement that Act No. 3358 had not been applied after 1991 and that a new draft Military Service Bill had been drawn up to embody a policy of protecting persons conscripted into military service from being assigned duties in public bodies or undertakings without their consent.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the amendments made to the Military Service Act, No. 1111 take into consideration international obligations, current conditions, as well as the needs of the country. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to the most recent version of the Military Service Act, No. 1111, available on the Government’s website, this Act has been amended 12 times between the period 2009–14. However, the Committee notes that these amendments do not appear to relate to the procedures regarding assigning conscripts in the surplus reserve to work for public bodies and institutions. Recalling that the Committee has been raising this issue for a number of years, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure the amendment of the Military Service Act, No. 1111, to bring it into conformity with the Convention.