Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Burundi (Ratification: 1963)

Article 1(b) of the Convention. Compulsory civic service for the purposes of economic development. It its previous comments, the Committee noted the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 1/005 of 1 December 1996 establishing compulsory civic service. Under the terms of section 2 of the Legislative Decree, civic service consists of unremunerated compulsory service for the State in areas of public interest or development, such as education, national defence, health, social welfare, the environment and reconstruction. The Committee also noted that any refusal to perform compulsory civic service is liable to punishment in the form of imprisonment ranging from one month to one year (section 8). The Committee further noted that similar provisions are applicable in relation to national defence, including Ministerial Ordinance No. 520/003 of 6 January 1997 on the organization of compulsory civic service in relation to national defence, and Legislative Decree No. 1/013 of 31 October 1997 issuing regulations governing persons engaged in compulsory civic service in the field of national defence. The Committee recalled that Article 1(b) of the Convention prohibits the use of forced or compulsory labour as a method of mobilizing and using labour for the purposes of economic development. The Committee also referred to the Government’s indication in its 2006 report that compulsory civic service had been discontinued since 2002. In this connection, it requested the Government to provide copies of the respective texts.

The Committee notes the observations made by the Trade Union Confederation of Burundi (COSYBU) in 2015, in which it emphasizes that every Saturday all the streets are closed to make people perform community work. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that, in terms of recruitment to the defence forces, recruitment is voluntary and ethnic and gender quotas are respected. Consequently, there is no longer any compulsory conscription. The Committee recalls that civic service consists of compulsory service in areas of public interest or development, and goes beyond the obligation of service in the defence forces. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the provisions which brought an end to compulsory civic service and whether the provisions of the national legislation referred to above have been formally repealed. Where appropriate, please provide copies of the relevant texts.