Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments. The Committee informs the Government that, if it has not supplied replies to the points raised by 1 September 2024, then it may proceed with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal at its next session.

Repetition

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Situations of forced labour arising from the armed conflict. Trafficking and sexual slavery. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that according to the 2016 Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons on his mission to the Syrian Arab Republic to the Human Rights Council, credible information indicates that women and girls trapped in conflict areas under the control of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) face trafficking and sexual slavery. Some specific ethnic groups are particularly vulnerable, such as Yazidis and those from ethnic and religious communities targeted by the ISIL (A/HRC/32/35/Add.2, paragraph 65). The Committee also notes that, according to the 2017 Report of the UN Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence, thousands of Yazidi women and girls who were captured in Iraq in August 2014 and trafficked to the Syrian Arab Republic continue to be held in sexual slavery, while new reports have surfaced of additional women and children being forcibly transferred from Iraq to the Syrian Arab Republic since the start of military operations in Mosul (S/2017/249, paragraph 69).

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that, pursuant to the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act of 2010, a Department to Combat Trafficking in Persons was established. However, since the conflict has erupted, trafficking of persons and sexual slavery have increased because of the presence of terrorist groups in the country. The Committee must express its deep concern that, after almost six years of conflict, trafficking in persons and sexual slavery are practices that are still occurring on a large scale on the ground. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to put an immediate stop to these practices which constitute a serious violation of the Convention and to guarantee that the victims are fully protected from such abusive practices. The Committee recalls that it is crucial that appropriate criminal penalties are imposed on perpetrators so that recourse to trafficking or sexual slavery does not go unpunished. The Committee urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures in this respect, and to provide information on the results achieved.

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

The Committee expects that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.