Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report and the discussion which took place in the Conference Committee in 1990.

The Committee notes in particular the Government's indications that it considers the observations by the Committee as valid and that legislation is currently under revision. The first part of the revision covers labour laws. The draft texts of the revised laws have already been debated by employers' and workers' organisations and the Labour Advisory Board and will be tabled before the National Assembly as soon as practicable. The second part of the review exercise covers other legislation which requires extensive interministerial consultations: the Ministry of Labour and the Labour Law Review Committee of the Law Reform Commission on which employers' and workers' organisations are represented are working on a final report to be submitted to the Government for further action. The Labour Law Review Committee has included among its recommendations the comments and observations of the Committee as issues that need immediate attention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will provide further information on the measures taken to bring national legislation into conformity with the Convention and on the provisions actually adopted on the following matters to which the Committee referred previously:

Tanganyika

1. Compulsory cultivation. In comments made over a number of years, the Committee noted that the Local Government Ordinance and, following its repeal, the Local Government (District Authorities) Act, 1982, and section 121(e) of the Employment Ordinance (as amended by Act No. 82 of 1962) empower local authorities to impose compulsory cultivation, and that by-laws which impose compulsory cultivation on resident landholders have indeed been made by district councils and approved by the national Government. Although reference was made during the discussion which took place at the Conference Committee in 1984 concerning the application of the Convention in the United Republic of Tanzania to the impending threat of famine, the Committee noted that a number of by-laws adopted in 1984 and 1985 specifically restrict the production of food crops and oblige resident landholders to cultivate and maintain a fixed area of cash crops, any contravention being punishable with a fine and imprisonment.

For a number of years also, the Government has indicated its intention to have the legislation revised so as to ensure the observance of the Convention; on its request concrete proposals from the ILO to this effect were forwarded in May 1982. The Committee had noted the Government's indication that labour laws are under revision, but it pointed out that by-laws imposing compulsory cultivation are in actual practice made under the Local Government (District Authorities) Act, 1982. Noting the Government's repeated indications that the legislation referred to would be revised so as to ensure the observance of the Convention, the Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be taken without further delay to bring the Local Government (District Authorities) Act, 1982 and section 121(e) of the Employment Ordinance, as well as any by-laws made and approved thereunder into conformity with the Convention, and that the Government will indicate the provisions adopted to this end.

2. General obligation to work. In previous comments the Committee referred to the Human Resources Deployment Act, 1983, which makes provision for the establishment of machinery designed to regulate and facilitate the engagement of all able-bodied persons in productive work. Under section 3 of this Act, every local government authority shall make arrangements to ensure that every able-bodied person over 15 years of age and resident within its area of jurisdiction engages in productive or other lawful employment; for this purpose, the local authority shall establish and maintain registers of employers and of all residents capable of working (sections 13 and 14), and work out a system which will enable the registered employer to utilise the available registered unemployed residents within its area of jurisdiction (section 20). Under section 17 of the Act, arrangements made by the Minister of Labour and Manpower Development are to provide for the transfer to other districts and subsequent employment of unemployed residents, and under section 24, failure to comply with any provision of the Act is punishable with a fine and imprisonment. Referring to the explanations provided in paragraphs 34 to 37 and 45 to 48 of its 1979 General Survey on the Abolition of Forced Labour, the Committee pointed out that legislation obliging all able-bodied citizens to engage in a gainful occupation subject to penal sanctions is incompatible with the Convention.

The Committee hopes that the necessary measures will rapidly be taken to bring the Human Resources Deployment Act into conformity with the Convention and that the Government will indicate the provisions adopted.

3. The Committee previously noted that the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Act, 1983, amended section 176 of the Penal Code by inserting, inter alia, a new paragraph (8), punishing "any able-bodied person who is not engaged in any productive work and has no visible means of subsistence". Noting also that persons chargeable under section 176 of the Penal Code may be subjected to administrative measures under the Human Resources Deployment Act (see point 5 below), the Committee requested the Government to supply full information on the application in practice of section 176(8), including any court decisions defining or illustrating its scope and any guidelines followed by administrative authorities in deciding who is chargeable under this provision. The Committee hopes that the Government will re-examine section 176(8) of the Penal Code in the light of the Convention and the explanations provided in paragraphs 34 to 37 and 45 to 48 of the 1979 General Survey on the Abolition of Forced Labour, referred to above, and that it will indicate the measures taken or contemplated in this regard to ensure the observance of the Convention.

4. Compulsory labour for public purposes and development schemes. In comments made over a number of years, the Committee observed that, contrary to the Convention, Part X of the Employment Ordinance permits forced labour to be exacted for public purposes, and section 6 of the Ward Development Committees Act, 1969, gives ward development committees the power to make orders requiring all adult citizens resident in the area of the ward to participate in the implementation of any scheme for agricultural or pastoral development, the construction of works or buildings for the social welfare of residents, the establishment of any industry or the construction of any public utility. The Committee noted previously the Government's indication that the non-conformity of Part X of the Employment Ordinance, and section 6 of the Ward Development Committees Act will be corrected when the new Labour Code under preparation is adopted.

The Committee hopes that the necessary action will soon be taken to bring Part X of the Employment Ordinance and section 6 of the Ward Development Committees Act into conformity with the Convention and that the Government will indicate the provisions adopted to this end.

5. Article 2, paragraph (2)(c), of the Convention. In previous comments, the Committee noted that sections 4 to 8 of the Resettlement of Offenders Act, 1969, and sections 4 and 17 of the Resettlement of Offenders Regulations, 1969, permit resettlement orders, with an obligation to perform compulsory labour, to be made by administrative decision. In addition, under sections 26 and 27 of the Human Resources Deployment Act, the Minister shall make such arrangements as will provide for a smooth and co-ordinated transfer or any other measure which will provide for the rehabilitation and full deployment of persons chargeable, or previously convicted under sections 176 and 177 of the Penal Code. While in 1984, the Committee noted the Government's statement that proposals for the revision of the provisions of the Resettlement of Offenders Act and Regulations had been submitted to the competent authority for decision, the Government in its report for the period ending October 1987 merely stated that no cases were known where compulsory labour had been applied contrary to Article 2, paragraph (2)(c), of the Convention. In its report for the period ending 15 October 1988 the Government added that since work in the United Republic of Tanzania can only be exacted from a person as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, it follows, therefore, that no compulsory labour can be imposed by an administrative or non-judicial body. The Committee again expresses the hope that the provisions of the Resettlement of Offenders Act, 1969, and the Resettlement of Offenders Regulations, 1969, referred to above, which appear to authorise the imposition of compulsory labour by administrative order will accordingly be amended so as to ensure in law that no compulsory labour may be imposed on offenders otherwise than as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, and that the Government will indicate the action taken to this end.