Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. In comments made for many years, the Committee referred to sections 221 to 224 and 225(1)(b), (c) and (e) of the 1894 United Kingdom Merchant Shipping Act which provide for the punishment of various disciplinary offences with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour) and for the forcible conveyance of seamen on board ship to perform their duties.

The Government previously reported that the questions raised in relation to the Merchant Shipping Act were being studied and that the first draft of a Jamaican Bill on merchant shipping had been prepared which, it was hoped, was to be enacted before the end of the 1991 legislative year.

The Committee notes the indication made by the Government in its latest report, received in 1995, that in Jamaica, forced or compulsory labour was not used as a means of labour discipline, in spite of the provisions of the United Kingdom Merchant Shipping Act adopted by Jamaica in 1962, and that corresponding provisions have been removed from the final draft of the Jamaica Shipping Bill to be submitted to Parliament.

The Committee trusts that the Government will soon be in a position to report on the adoption of the necessary legislative changes and that it will provide a copy of the new Act.