Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Mozambique (Ratification: 1977)

1. Article 1(a) and (b) of the Convention. The Committee refers to the Ministerial Directive of 15 June 1985 on the evacuation of towns, issued under the Decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Frelimo Party, the text of which has been communicated by the Government.

The directive, whose aim is to combat hunger, underdevelopment and various forms of marginality and criminality, provides for the "unproductive" population to be moved from the towns to rural areas. "Sorting posts" are responsible for checking persons suspected of being unemployed, vagrants, prostitutes or of belonging to other marginal groups (circular on the structure of operation "production"). Persons arrested and identified as "unproductive or anti-social" are sent to re-education centres or assigned to sectors of production (Guide for mobilisation brigades). Section 2 of the Directive provides for the use of "appropriate coercive means to oblige those who resist to observe the decisions of the Fourth Congress of the Frelimo Party".

The Committee recalls that, under Article 1(a) and (b), States which have ratified the Convention undertake not to make use of forced or compulsory labour either as a means of political coercion or education or as a method of mobilising and using labour for purposes of economic development. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or under consideration to ensure compliance with the Convention in this respect and to provide full information on the operation of the re-education and production centres, particularly on the categories and numbers of persons placed at the disposal of the Government in these centres, and on the nature and extent of the work which they are called upon to perform.

2. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the current status of the legislation concerning freedom of expression, assembly and association.

The Committee notes that the following Legislative Decrees have not been formally repealed but that their application is confined to acts committed during the decolonisation period (7.12.1974-25.06.1975); Legislative Decree No. 8/74 of 28 October 1974, which lays down penalties for any person who fraudulently disseminates false or tendentious news that might disturb public order or tranquillity; Legislative Decree No. 11/74 of 2 November 1974, to adopt legislative measures to neutralise the activities of agitators and subversive elements that endeavour to oppose the process of decolonisation by any means, including violence; Legislative Decree No. 12/74 of 2 November 1974, which provides that a prisoner suspected of having committed offences against the decolonisation shall not benefit by section 315 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Committee also notes that Legislative Decree No. 22.468 of 11 April 1933 governing the right to hold meetings is not applied, as it determined the attributions of authorities which no longer exist, and that the following decrees have been repealed and replaced as follows:

- Legislative Decree No. 40.550 of 12 March 1956, repealed in respect of security measures by Legislative Decree No. 450 of 14 November 1972;

- Legislative Decree No. 23.203 of 6 November 1933 respecting political offences and breaches of discipline of a political nature, repealed and replaced by Act No. 2 of 1 March 1979;

- Legislative Decree No. 39.660 of 20 May 1955 respecting the exercise of the right of association and Act No. 1.901 of 21 May 1935 respecting secret societies- repealed; the right of association is currently governed by sections 157 et seq. of the Civil Code;

- Legislative Decree No. 37.447 of 13 June 1949 respecting the prevention and repression of activities contrary to the security of the State - repealed; this matter is partly governed by Act No. 5 of 1979 respecting the people's police.

The Committee also notes that Decree No. 27.495 respecting the exercise of the freedom of the press is still in force, except for sections 64 and 55 on censorship which are held contrary to the principles of the Constitution.

The Committee asks the Government to provide copies of Legislative Decree No. 450 of 14 November 1972, Act No. 2 of 1 March 1979 and Act No. 5 of 1979 respecting the people's police, and the sections of the Civil Code (157 and following) which concern the right of association.

3. Article 1(c). The Committee previously referred to Act No. 5/82 of 9 June 1982 respecting the defence of the economy whose main purpose is to define and describe acts or omissions which conflict with the plan and are harmful to the economy. This Act prescribes penalties for behaviour that, directly or indirectly, jeopardises economic development, prevents the carrying out of the plan or interferes with the material or spiritual welfare of the people. The Committee notes that:

(a)under section 10 of the above-mentioned Act, a fine and imprisonment of up to 12 years may be imposed in the event of serious harm done to the national economy on all who do not observe the procedures, the orders or the instructions governing the preparation or carrying out of the national state plan, territorial plans or plans for production units, with the intention of preventing the implementation of the established plans and standards;

(b)under section 12, any person who is directly responsible for disorganising sectors of production or for the provision of services, or for the absence of management or auditing or for the disorganisation of accounts with harmful consequences shall be sentenced to a fine and to imprisonment of up to two years;

(c)under section 13, imprisonment of up to two years is to be imposed on any person when harmful consequences result from his failure to observe the standards or instructions that must be observed in the performance of his duties to ensure that raw materials, manufactured products and other goods do not become deteriorated, vitiated, contaminated, unusable or lost;

(d)under section 14, any person who does not respect the obligations placed on him by his position or by the rules and instructions for technological discipline or for the care and maintenance of machinery and equipment may be sentenced to imprisonment of up to eight years where his infringement has harmful consequences.

The Committee also has noted that, under the provisions of section 7, which defines negligence as including carelessness, lack of a sense of responsibility, lack of discipline and inexcusable ignorance, Act No. 5/82 also punishes unintentional acts resulting in an infringement of the standards of management and discipline. The above-mentioned provisions seem to be applicable in a general way to any breach of the obligations or economic or technical standards in question.

The Committee notes that copies of judicial decisions made under the above-mentioned sections of Act No. 5/82, to which the Government refers in its report, have not yet been made available, and it hopes that the Government will forward them shortly.

4. Prison labour. In its previous direct request, the Committee noted that the following texts remain in force: the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as supplemented in particular by Act No. 2/79, of 1 March 1979 which defines and establishes the penalties for offences against the safety of the people and the people's State of Mozambique, amended by Act No. 1/83 of 16 March 1983, and Act No. 3/79, which sets up a revolutionary military tribunal. The Committee noted that section 59 and section 70, subsection 2, of the Penal Code provide that persons sentenced to penalties of imprisonment and persons subjected to detention in labour establishments or agricultural settlements are compelled to perform labour.

The Committee asked the Government to indicate whether the following texts, which govern prison labour, were in force: Legislative Decree No. 26.643 of 28 May 1936, made applicable in the overseas provinces by Legislative Decree No. 39.997 of 29 December 1954; Decree No. 34.674 of the Ministry of Justice of 18 June 1945, made applicable in the overseas provinces by Resolution No. 18.872 of the Ministry of Overseas Affairs dated 11 December 1961.

The Committee notes from the Government's report that Legislative Decree No. 26.643 is still in force and is applied in so far as it is not contrary to the Constitution. The Committee also notes the Government's indication that Decree No. 34.674 has not been explicitly repealed but that it is no longer applied, as prison labour is now regulated by Decrees Nos. 58 and 59 of 1974. The Committee asks the Government to provide copies of Decrees Nos. 58 and 59 of 1974 respecting prison labour and to indicate whether political prisoners are exempt from the obligation to work and, if so, to provide the texts which give statutory effect to this exemption. [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]