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

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

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. Sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for breaches of labour discipline or participation in strikes. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to sections 237 and 238 of the Penal Code, under which penalties of imprisonment (involving compulsory labour) may be imposed on public servants or employees of public institutions as a punishment for breaches of labour discipline or for participation in strikes, even in services the interruption of which would not endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. The Committee also noted the Government’s indication that following the establishment of the revolutionary Transnational Council, laws that were not in conformity with the principles of freedom and democracy were suspended. Once the first Government was formed, ministerial sectors sought to draft new legislation including a trade unions act. These bills had not been promulgated yet because no national Constitution had been promulgated.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that forced labour is prohibited under section 37 of Labour Relations Act No. 12 of 2010, and that the use of forced labour in order to coerce, mobilize mass labour, to compel a person to work after the submission of a resignation; or as means of labour discipline or discrimination, is prohibited under section 39 of the implementing regulations for Act No. 12 of 2012. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of sections 237 and 238 of the Penal Code in practice, including any prosecutions carried out or court decisions handed down, as well as the sanctions applied.