Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

Article 1c) of the Convention. Punishment for breaches of labour discipline. The Committee previously requested the Government to restrict the scope of application of the following provisions of the Criminal Law, which provide for penal sanctions involving compulsory prison labour (by virtue of section 56(1) of the Sentence Execution Code of Latvia) as punishment for breaches of labour discipline:

• –section 197, which provides that the negligent fulfilment of duties by a responsible employee of an undertaking (company) or organization or by a person authorized by an undertaking or organization, if substantial harm has been caused to the undertaking or organization or to the rights and interests protected by law of another person, is punishable by imprisonment or a fine;
• –section 319, which provides that the non-performance or negligent performance of duties by a State official, which he or she must perform in order to prevent damage to the State authority, administrative order or rights and interests protected by law of a person, and if it has caused significant damage to the State authority, administrative order or rights and interests protected by law, is punishable by imprisonment or a fine.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that both sections of the Criminal Law have been amended. Section 197, as amended in 2022, eliminates the phrase “to the undertaking or organization, or to the interests protected by law of another person”, and adds community service as an alternative punishment to deprivation of liberty. Likewise, section 319, as amended in 2021, eliminates the phrase “in order to prevent damage to the State authority, administrative order or rights and interests protected by law of a person, and if it has caused significant damage to the State authority, administrative order or rights and interests protected by law”, and adds community service as an alternative punishment to deprivation of liberty. The Government further indicates that community service is defined under section 40 of the Criminal Law as the compulsory participation in indispensable public service which a convicted person serves as punishment by doing work, in the area where he or she resides, as specified by the local government during free time outside regular employment or studies and without remuneration.

The Committee notes that during the period from 1 June 2018 until 20 May 2022, there were no convictions according to section 197, whereas there were six convicted persons under section 319 of the Criminal Law and one of them was sanctioned with imprisonment.

The Committee observes with regret that the amendments to the Penal Code did not take into account the Committee’s previous comments since, instead of limiting the scope of the breaches of labour discipline punishable by sanctions involving compulsory labour, they have broadened that scope. By eliminating the reference to “substantial harm” from the text of section 197, any situation of negligent fulfilment of duties by a responsible employee of an undertaking or organization or by a person authorized by an undertaking or organization could be sanctioned with deprivation of liberty, community work or a fine. Also, by suppressing from the text of section 319 the reference to “substantial damage”, any situation of “non-performance or negligent performance of duties by a State official” becomes an offense punishable with deprivation of liberty, community work or a fine.

The Committee recalls that, according to Article 1(c) of the Convention, no sanction involving compulsory labour (including compulsory prison labour or community service) should be imposed for breaches of labour discipline. It has underlined in this regard that only breaches of labour discipline that impair or are liable to endanger the operation of essential services, or which are committed either in the exercise of functions that are essential to safety or in circumstances where the life or health are in danger are excluded from the scope of the Convention (2012 General Survey on Fundamental Conventions, paragraph 310). 

Therefore, the Committee once again requests the Government to review sections 197 and 319 of the Criminal Law and ensure that both in law and practice no sanctions involving compulsory labour, including in the form of compulsory prison labour or community service, are imposed for breaches of labour discipline that: (i) do not relate to circumstances that endanger the operation of essential services, or (ii) take place in the exercise of functions that are essential to safety or in circumstances where the life or health of persons are endangered. In the meantime, it requests the Government to continue providing information on the application in practice of such provisions.