Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Cuba (Ratification: 1958)

Article 1(b) of the Convention. With reference to its observation and its previous requests, the Committee recalls that Act No. 1254 respecting social service and its regulations issued by Decree No. 3771 of 1974, provide that Cuban citizens who graduate in higher education or as middle-level technicians or through regular courses for primary school teachers are obliged to perform social service, in accordance with the planning and priorities for development work laid down by the Government. The duration of the service is three years and it is performed at the place and in the posts for which the graduate is intended, and her or his personal and family circumstances are taken into account, but that an unjustified refusal to perform social service entails temporary or permanent disqualifications from exercising her or his profession, which is recorded in the workbook of the person concerned. The Government reiterates in its report that the provisions concerning temporary or definitive disqualification from exercising the profession are no longer applied and states that it is continuing its examination of the labour legislation to adapt it to the new conditions in the country. The Committee trusts that the Government will take the necessary measures to bring its Act respecting social service and its regulations into compliance with the Convention and that it will provide information in the near future on the progress achieved in that respect.