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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 2019)

Articles 1(1), 2(2) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. The Committee previously noted Act No. 2016-1111 of 8 December 2016 on trafficking in persons, as well as the establishment of a national committee against trafficking in persons (CNLTP). It also noted the development of a national strategy on combating trafficking in persons, accompanied by a national plan of action for the period 2016–2020. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of this Act, the activities of the CNLTP and the implementation of the National Plan of Action.

The Government indicates in its report that between 2018 and 2019, 46 people were prosecuted for offences relating to trafficking in persons. Furthermore, between 2019 and 2020, 58 cases resulted in investigations for forced labour and 23 for sexual exploitation linked to trafficking. The Government refers to several cases of convictions for trafficking in persons, in which the perpetrators were sentenced to up to ten years’ imprisonment. It adds that the CNLTP plans to hold a workshop to review the National Plan of Action (2016–2020), which will contribute to the elaboration and approval of a new strategy for the period 2021–2025. With regard to the protection of victims of trafficking, the Government indicates that the CNLTP, which has been operational since 2019, has carried out activities to: (i) set up a referral mechanism for victims; (ii) facilitate the provision of care to victims in reception centres managed by non-governmental organizations; and (iii) repatriate victims of trafficking in persons. From 2020 to mid-2021, 581 victims of trafficking in persons have been provided with care.

The Committee also observes, according to the information available on the Government’s website, that a capacity-building project to enable the national authorities to provide an integrated response to combat trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants (COCOTIP) was launched in December 2019 and will end in November 2022. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to combat trafficking in persons for the purposes of both sexual exploitation and labour exploitation, and to provide information in this respect, including on the review of the National Plan of Action (2016-2020) conducted by the CNLTP; the new National Strategy on Combating Trafficking in Persons; and the results achieved in the context of the COCOTIP project. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the activities of the CNLTP aimed at identifying and protecting victims of trafficking, including on the implementation of the referral mechanism. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of investigations conducted and persons prosecuted, as well as on the number and nature of convictions under Act No. 2016-1111 on trafficking in persons.

Article 2(2)(c). Sentence of community work. The Committee notes that the principal penal sanctions prescribed in the Penal Code of 2019 (Act No. 2019-574 of 26 June 2019) include the penalty of community work (section 36), which can be applied for offences and minor offences (section 38). Under the terms of section 55, as an alternative to a custodial sentence the court may order the convicted person to carry out unpaid work either for a public entity or for a private entity with a public service mandate or for an association authorized to carry out community works. Article 58 provides that the arrangements for carrying out such work shall be determined by decree. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the sentence of community work has already been applied in practice and, if so, to provide the list of private entities with a public service mandate and associations authorized to carry out community works and to indicate the nature of the works carried out. It also requests the Government to provide a copy of the decree determining the arrangements for carrying out community work.

Article 2(2)(d). Powers of requisitioning. For many years, the Committee has drawn the Government’s attention to the need to amend or formally repeal Act No. 63-4 of 17 January 1963 on the use of persons for promoting national economic and social development and its implementing Decree No. 63-48 of 9 February 1963. These legal texts, which allow the requisitioning of persons over 18 years of age to perform certain types of work of national interest with a view to national economic and social promotion, define powers of requisitioning too broadly and go beyond the exceptional situations provided for in Article 2(2)(d) of the Convention, concerning any work or service exacted in cases of emergency.

The Government once again indicates that these texts are no longer applied in practice and have fallen into disuse. It states that their removal should not cause difficulties, and that it will inform the Committee of developments in that regard. The Committee takes due note of this information and expects that the Government will take the necessary measures to formally repeal Act No. 63-4 of 17 January 1963 and its implementing decree, in order to bring the national legislation into line with the Convention and avoid any ambiguity in the national legal order.