Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Niger (Ratification: 1961)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Niger (Ratification: 2015)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Trafficking in persons. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide detailed information on the nature of trafficking in persons in Niger, as well as the measures taken to combat this phenomenon through the adoption of legislative provisions criminalizing and penalizing trafficking in persons specifically, and through measures to raise public awareness and protect the victims.

The Committee notes that, in its latest report, the Government states that the national action plan has still not been adopted but that measures have been taken, with assistance from non-governmental organizations, to raise public awareness, through the media in particular. These efforts have raised the awareness of parents, marabouts and the public at large to the dangers of trafficking. The Government also refers to vigilance committees, which are joint brigades operating at borders that are responsible for reporting any suspicious behaviour indicative of human trafficking.

The Committee notes from the Ministry of Justice’s website that Ordinance No. 2010-086 concerning the fight against trafficking in persons in Niger was adopted on 16 December 2010. It also notes that the National Committee to coordinate the fight against trafficking in persons and the National Agency to combat trafficking in persons have been established (Decrees Nos 2012-082/PRN/MJ and 2012/PRN/MJ, 21 March 2012). The abovementioned National Committee is responsible for devising programmes, plans and national strategies to combat the trafficking of persons and the Agency is responsible for the operations involved. The National Committee also has responsibility for coordinating all state and non-state actions to combat trafficking.

The Committee takes due note of the measures taken by the Government to reinforce the legal and institutional framework for combating trafficking in persons. It requests the Government to provide in its next report copies of the Ordinance of 2010 respecting the fight against trafficking in persons and its implementing texts. Please also provide information on the activities to coordinate the fight against trafficking in persons to combat trafficking in persons developed by the National Coordinating Committee and the national agency. The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the National Committee has access to the necessary resources to adopt a national action plan to combat trafficking in persons that will provide for activities to raise awareness about the phenomenon of trafficking and to train relevant stakeholders, capacity building for the law enforcement authorities and measures to protect victims and enable them to assert their rights.

2. Freedom of career members of the armed forces and public servants to leave the service. The Committee reminds the Government that public servants, including voluntary career personnel of the armed forces, must be free to leave the service within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with prior notice. In the absence of any information on these matters in the Government’s report, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide the information requested below on the practical application of the provisions of national legislation governing the right of certain categories of public servants to resign.

Career members of the armed forces. According to the provisions of Title VI (service relations) of Ordinance No. 99-62 of 20 December 1999 issuing the conditions of service of military personnel in the armed forces of Niger and of the national gendarmerie, non-commissioned officers, members of the gendarmerie and rank and file members of the armed forces are covered by renewable fixed-term contracts (or commissions). Officers remain in active service up to the age limit pertaining to their grade. According to section 21 of the Ordinance, the resignation of career members of the armed forces is subject to the approval of the appointing authority (as was already the case under Decree No. 079-23/PCMS/MDN of 1 March 1979). The authority can therefore refuse resignation, thereby forcing the member to continue in service. In these circumstances, the Committee once again requests the Government to specify the length of the contracts of non-commissioned officers, members of the gendarmerie and rank and file members of the armed forces, indicating the manner in which these contracts are renewed and whether the persons concerned may resign before the expiry of the contracts. It also requests the Government to provide information on the procedure to be followed by officers wishing to resign and the principles applied by the competent authority in ruling on applications to resign, as well as the grounds on which the authority may refuse a resignation.

Public servants. According to section 52 of Ordinance No. 89-18 of 8 December 1989 issuing the general regulations of the public service, and section 153 of its implementing decree (Decree No. 91-110/PRN/MFP/T of 26 June 1991), the appointing authority must decide within four months whether to accept or reject a public servant’s application to resign. The Government indicated previously that acceptance of the resignation of public servants and members of the armed forces and the gendarmerie, while still subject to a time limit, depends on the post in question and its technical or strategic importance for the public administration or the army. The Committee recalled that public servants or members of the armed forces may be required to remain in their jobs only in the event of an emergency within the meaning of Article 2(2)(d) of the Convention. In order to verify that these public servants may leave their service within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with prior notice, the Committee once again asks the Government to provide further information on the application in practice of the abovementioned provisions of the conditions of service of the military personnel of the armed forces of Niger and the national gendarmerie, and the general regulations of the public service, indicating the grounds on which the appointing authority may refuse a resignation, and to include any relevant statistics available.

3. Indirect compulsion to work in the event of vagrancy. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to amend sections 177 and 178 of the Penal Code so as to ensure that only persons who disrupt public order by unlawful acts may be liable to the penalties for the offence of vagrancy set in these provisions. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that it will take account of this recommendation and will indicate in its next report the measures taken to implement it. The Committee recalls that according to the abovementioned provisions of the Penal Code, vagrants, who are defined as persons with no fixed abode or means of subsistence who ordinarily carry on no trade or occupation, are liable to a prison term of from three to six months. In so far as the legal provisions punishing vagrancy and defining it too broadly may become a means of indirect compulsion to work, the Committee trusts that the Government will take the necessary steps to bring sections 177 and 178 of the Penal Code into conformity with the Convention at the earliest date.