Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Fiji (Ratification: 1974)

Article 1(d) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour for having participated in strikes. The Committee previously noted that, according to section 191 BQ (1) of the Employment Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, breaking an employment contract for the provision of essential service and industry, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such breaking, either alone or in combination with others, will deprive the public wholly or to a great extent of such service or industry or substantially diminish its enjoyment, constitutes an offence. According to section 256(a) of the Employment Relations Promulgation 2007, such an offence is punishable with imprisonment for up to two years (involving compulsory labour by virtue of section 43(1) of the Prisons and Corrections Act 2006). In its report, the Government indicates that it has taken note of the Committee’s comment in this regard.

The Committee recalls that Article 1(d) of the Convention sets forth the principle that no sanctions involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, may be imposed on persons for the mere fact of peacefully participating in a strike. The Committee has indicated that when sanctions involving compulsory labour may exist for impairing or endangering the operation of essential services, this should be limited to situations where there is an effective danger, not mere inconvenience (2007 General Survey on the Eradication of Forced Labour, paragraph 175).

Referring to its comments under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) in relation to the need to review the list of essential services and the limitations on the right to strike in essential services, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that, both in law and in practice, no persons may be subject to sanctions involving compulsory labour for peacefully participating in strikes. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government provide information on the application in practice of section 191 BQ (1) of the Employment Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, including copies of any relevant court decision, indicating the grounds for prosecution and the penalties imposed, in order to enable the Committee to assess its scope of application.