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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Mauritius (Ratification: 1969)

1. Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. In earlier comments, the Committee has referred to sections 221 to 224 and 225(a), (b), (c) and (e) of the United Kingdom Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, applicable in Mauritius by virtue of section 3(10) of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 1911 (Cap. 346), under which seamen may be forcibly conveyed on board ship to perform their duties and punished with a sentence of imprisonment (involving the obligation to work) for breaches of discipline, even where the offence has not endangered the safety of persons or the ship. The Committee notes with interest the Government's indication in its latest report that the Merchant Shipping Act, 1986, has been enacted but has not yet been proclaimed and that provision has been made in the new Act to comply with the Convention and to repeal the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. The Committee trusts that the Merchant Shipping Act, 1986, will ensure the observance of the Convention in maritime disciplinary law and hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report its entry into force and to supply a copy of the Act as well as of the proclamation bringing it into force.

2. Article 1(d). In comments made for many years, the Committee has referred to sections 82 and 83 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1973, which empower the minister to refer any industrial dispute to compulsory arbitration, enforceable by penalties involving compulsory labour. The Committee has pointed out that these provisions are incompatible with Article 1(d) of the Convention. It notes that the Government gives no information in its most recent report with regard to measures taken or under consideration to bring this legislation into conformity with the Convention. It recalls the statement by the Government in its report for the period 1 July 1983 to 30 June 1985 that consideration was being given to measures to be taken and the statement in its report for the period 1979-82 that the procedure for the repeal of the Industrial Relations Act, 1973, had been set in motion and that a parliamentary committee was to draft completely new legislation on industrial relations after hearing the proposals of the employers' and workers' organisations.

The Committee hopes that previously reported steps taken to bring the industrial relations legislation into conformity with the Convention will proceed and that action will soon be completed to ensure that compulsory arbitration enforceable with penalties involving compulsory labour is limited to services whose interruption is likely to endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. [The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]