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Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Solomon Islands (RATIFICATION: 1985)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request.

1.  The Committee noted the Government’s statement that sections 74 and 75 of the Labour Ordinance (1960) relating to forced labour have been repealed by the Employment Act of 1981. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate whether any other legislative provisions have been adopted since that time to replace the above-mentioned section 75, which made the exaction of forced labour punishable as an offence, and, if not, how effect is given or is proposed to be given to Article 25 of the Convention concerning penalties to be imposed for the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour.

2.  In its earlier comments, the Committee noted that section 6 of the Constitution of the Solomon Islands provides for protection from slavery and forced labour (paragraphs (1) and (2)) and lays down exclusions from the expression "forced labour" (paragraph (3)). On many occasions it requested the Government to supply information, including copies of relevant statutory instruments or administrative rules or regulations, on: (a) any circumstances in which labour may be exacted, in the absence of a sentence, by virtue of the order of a court; (b)(i) any labour of a non-military nature which may be required of members of a disciplined force performing compulsory national service (other than conscientious objectors); (ii) the duration of engagement and conditions of resignation of career members of the disciplined forces and other public servants; (iii) any schemes providing for an obligation to serve for a definite period in return for education or training received; (c) any labour which may be required as minor communal services to be considered as part of reasonable and normal "other civil obligations".

3.  Referring to the general observation on the Convention made in its report to the 87th Session of the ILC (1999), the Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information as to the present position in law and practice as regards:

(i)  whether there are prisons administered by private concerns, profit-making or otherwise;

(ii)  whether any private prison contractors deploy prisoners to work either inside or outside prison premises, either for the account of the contractor or for that of another enterprise;

(iii)  whether private parties are admitted by the prison authorities into prison premises of any kind for the purpose of engaging prisoners in employment;

(iv)  whether employment of prisoners outside prison premises, either for a public authority or for a private enterprise, is allowed;

(v)  the conditions in which employment under any of the above conditions takes place, in respect of remuneration (indicating the level and comparing it with minimum wage normally applicable to such work), benefits accruing (such as pension rights and workers’ compensation), observance of occupational safety and health legislation and other conditions of employment (e.g. through labour inspection), and how those conditions are determined;

(vi)  what the source of any remuneration is (whether from public or private funds) and for what purposes it must or may be applied (e.g. for the personal use of the prisoner or if it is subject to compulsory deductions);

(vii)for whose benefit is the product of prisoners’ work and any surplus profit deriving from it, after deduction of overheads, and how it is disbursed;

(viii)how the consent of the prisoners concerned is guaranteed, so that t is free from the menace of any penalty, including any loss of privileges or other disadvantages following from a refusal to work.