Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Mongolia (Ratification: 2005)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. The Committee previously noted the establishment of the National Sub-Council on Combating Trafficking in persons to regulate the activities on combating and preventing trafficking and provide professional guidance, following the adoption of the Law on Combating Human Trafficking (2012). It noted that a National Programme on Combating Human Trafficking had been drafted to provide a plan of action in implementing anti-trafficking activities. It also noted that the Parliament passed the Law on Witness and Victim Protection in 2013, providing for protection measures for victims of trafficking. The Committee encouraged the Government to pursue its efforts to prevent, suppress and combat trafficking in persons and to provide protection and assistance, including legal assistance, to victims of trafficking.

The Government indicates in its report that the updated National Programme on Combating Human Trafficking was adopted by resolution No. 148 of 24 May 2017. This programme aims, inter alia, at: (i) organizing work to prevent and combat trafficking in persons through the study of the root causes and the conditions of this phenomena; (ii) taking and implementing measures for the protection of victims, including medical and psychological assistance; and (iii) expanding cooperation with other Governments, international organizations and non-state organizations. The Government further states that the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs and the Chairman of the Coordinating Council for the Prevention of Crimes of Human Trafficking have approved in 2018 the Implementation Schedule for the National Programme on combating Human Trafficking. In this framework, the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs and other organizations have implemented in 2018 a joint plan and set up training courses on the provision of assistance to victims of human rights and the identification of the victims for staff of the Ministry of External Relations, the Border Protection Agency, the Office for Foreign Nationals and the border Offices in Dornogov’ Province. The Government also indicates that resolution No. A/173 regulates the composition and functions of the Sub-Council on Combating Trafficking in persons.

The Committee notes that the Criminal Code of 2015, which entered into force in July 2017, provides for a sentence of imprisonment of two to eight years for trafficking in persons for the purposes of labour and sexual exploitation, and of five to 12 years for cross-border trafficking. It also notes that, according to the 17th Status Report on human rights and freedoms issued in 2018 by the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, the National Programme on Combating Human Trafficking is a four year programme (2017–21), section 5.2 of which provides for comprehensive legal, psychological, medical and rehabilitative services for victims of trafficking and the establishment of shelters. This Report also indicates that in November 2017, ten criminal cases of trafficking in persons were registered at the national level, according to information received from the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. A common database was created in 2016 to improve inter-sectorial coordination among the Government and non-governmental organizations in combating trafficking in persons and in registering victims and suspects. The Committee also notes that a two-year project “Improving victim-centred investigation and prosecution monitoring on human trafficking in Mongolia”, aimed at developing training manuals and at training law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges and officers of the Immigration Department, is being implemented by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs and the Asia Foundation. The Committee further notes that, in its concluding observations of August 2017, the Human Rights Committee expressed concern at the lack of identification of victims and reports of arrest and detention of victims for acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked (CCPR/C/MNG/CO/6, paragraph 27). It also notes that, according to the European Commission’s document of January 2018 on the assessment of Mongolia covering the period 2016–17, there are only two trafficking-specific shelters in the country (page 10). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken by the Government, particularly the National Programme on Combating Human Trafficking and its Implementation Schedule, in preventing trafficking in persons and in identifying and assisting victims of trafficking in persons. It also requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that victims of trafficking are treated as victims rather than offenders and have access to protection and assistance, and to provide information in this respect. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the provisions criminalizing trafficking in persons.

2. Vulnerable situation of migrant workers with regard to the exaction of forced labour. The Committee notes that according to the ILO’s Mongolia Policy Brief on Forced Labour of June 2016, reports indicated that tens of thousands of Chinese construction and mining workers entered Mongolia with tourist visas through a Chinese labour agency and were sold to Mongolian employers, their passports being confiscated upon arrival. In addition, according to this Policy Brief and the concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee of August 2017 (CCPR/C/MNG/CO/6, paragraph 29), migrants from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) worked in Mongolia, in conditions tantamount to forced labour, and were prohibited from leaving work with their wages paid directly to a North Korean Government agency. The Committee recalls the importance of taking effective measures to ensure that the system of the employment of migrant workers does not place the workers concerned in a situation of increased vulnerability, particularly when they are subjected to abusive employer practices such as retention of passports, deprivation of liberty, non-payment of wages, and physical abuse, as such practice might cause their employment to be transformed into situations that could amount to forced labour. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that migrant workers are fully protected from abusive practices and conditions amounting to the exaction of forced labour and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard. It requests the Government to supply information on the number of identified victims of forced labour among migrant workers, and on the number of investigations, prosecutions and sanctions imposed on the perpetrators.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.