Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Cambodia (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 1 September 2018.

Article 1(d) of the Convention. Punishment for participation in strikes. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that, pursuant to section 68 of the Law on Prisons of 2011, sanctions of imprisonment involves an obligation to work. The Committee also noted the Government’s information that no workers were arrested for the mere fact of organizing or peacefully participating in a strike, unless they committed criminal offences pursuant to the Penal Code. However, the Committee noted the observations received from the ITUC in 2017 in the context of the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), according to which, 25 leaders of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) or its affiliates had been jailed for their union activities since 2014. Among others, two members of the Free Trade Union, who led a one-month strike, were arrested without an arrest warrant and charged with incitement and intentional violence by a provincial court in 2016. The strike procedure had been followed and the protest was peaceful. The Committee therefore requested the Government to indicate the legislative provisions and factual arguments on the basis of which individuals had been arrested and prosecuted, for example by providing a copy of police reports or court decisions.

The Committee notes the Government’s response in its report that the allegation that the arrest of two members of the Free Trade Union without an arrest warrant in February 2016 does not reflect the truth. The Government states that the two persons concerned were arrested under warrant No. 92DBKK/016 of 2 February 2016 issued by the Kompong Speu Provincial Court of First Instance, and put under judicial control for incitement to commit offences and intentional violence with aggravating circumstances, in accordance with sections 494, 495 and 218 of the Penal Code. The Committee notes the copy of arrest warrants and police reports attached to the Government’s report.

However, the Committee notes from the observations of the ITUC and the ITUC Global Rights Index 2018 that, on 20 October 2017, Van Narong and Pel Voeun, two members of the CLC, were sentenced to imprisonment of six months for misdemeanour and malicious defamation under sections 311 and 312 of the Penal Code. They took part in a protest in February 2017 against Capitol Bus to demand the reinstatement of drivers who had been dismissed for joining the union. The ITUC further states that they had also filed a complaint against two workers from a yellow union named Cambodia for Confederation Development Association (CCDA) for beating up protesters. The court dismissed the case claiming that there was no evidence, while the two members of the CCDA lodged a counter-complaint for defamation against Van Narong and Pel Voeun, which was supported by the court. The ITUC also indicates in its observations that, on 14 February 2018, four leaders of the Workers Friendship Union Federation were arrested and prosecuted for having organized an illegal strike, blocking traffic and disturbing the public order.

In this regard, the Committee once again recalls that pursuant to Article 1(d) of the Convention, no sanctions involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, should be imposed on workers for the mere fact of organizing or peacefully participating in strikes. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the legislative provisions and factual arguments on the basis of which the abovementioned individuals have been arrested and prosecuted, for example by providing a copy of police reports or court decisions.