Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. The Committee takes note of the information supplied which consists of the letter of the Ministry of Justice of 14 November 2000, Decree No. 14310/K of 11 February 1949, concerning the regulation of prisons, and Legislative Decree No. 102 of 16 September 1983, with respect to compulsory military service.

Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention

The Committee notes that under section 59 of Decree No. 14310/K of 11 February 1949, persons sentenced to detention or to imprisonment with labour outside the prison may not be required to work without their consent. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the conditions and circumstances under which such persons work, and on the safeguards that exist to ensure that prisoners who work voluntarily do so under conditions approximating a free employment relationship.

The Committee recalls that under Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention, prison work must be carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and prisoners may not be placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations without their consent. The Committee refers to paragraph 132 of its General Report in 2001, on the application of the forced labour Convention, in which it stated that the most reliable and overt indicator of voluntariness can be gleaned from the circumstances and conditions under which the labour is performed and whether those conditions approximate a free employment relationship. In paragraph 143 of its General Report, the Committee indicated that these conditions would not have to emulate all of the conditions which are applicable to a free market but in the areas of wages, social security, safety and health and labour inspection, the circumstances in which the prison labour is performed should not be so disproportionately lower than the free market that it could be characterized as exploitative. It was the Committee’s view that these factors need to be weighed together with the circumstances under which formal consent has been given in order to ascertain whether the Convention is being respected when private entities are involved with prison labour.

The Committee asks the Government to provide information on conditions under which prisoners work for private individuals, companies or associations when placed in the system of probationary release (article 87 of the Penal Code).

The freedom of career soldiers in the armed forces to leave the service

The Committee notes that under Legislative Decree No. 102 of 16 September 1983, which embodies the law on national defence, section 51 respecting the status of volunteer officers includes provisions under which officers may, under certain enumerated conditions, resign from service upon submitting a request but in some cases, only "if it is accepted".

The Committee recalls that in paragraph 72 of the 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, it considered that the provisions of the Convention relating to compulsory military service may not be invoked to deprive persons who have voluntarily entered into an engagement of the right to leave the service in peacetime within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals, or with previous notice, subject to the conditions which may normally be required to ensure the continuity of the service.

The Committee requests that the Government provide information on the criteria used in ruling upon resignation requests submitted by persons serving in the armed forces on a voluntary basis, in those situations where the freedom to terminate the service depends upon the request being accepted. The Committee also asks the Government to supply information on whether, and under what conditions, privates and non-commissioned officers may, prior to completion of their voluntary service contract, be demobilized in peacetime within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals or with previous notice.

Article 25 of the Convention

The Committee notes the indications of the Government that section 569 of the Penal Code, which establishes penal sanctions against any individual who deprives another of personal freedom, applies to the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour punishable as a penal offence. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any legal proceedings which have been instituted to enforce section 569 as applied to forced or compulsory labour, and to furnish the text of any court or tribunal decisions involving the application of section 569 to cases of forced or compulsory labour and under which any penalties have been imposed.

The Committee notes that paragraph 3(a) of article 8 of Decree No. 3855, dated 1 September 1972, provides: "It shall be forbidden to impose forced or compulsory labour on any person". The Committee asks the Government to supply information on any criminal penalties which may be imposed under this article of Decree No. 3855, and to supply the text of any decisions of courts or other tribunals involving the enforcement of Decree No. 3855 and under which any penalties have been imposed.

With particular reference to the Committee’s general observation published in 2001 concerning the trafficking in persons, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on any other laws aimed at punishing the exaction of forced or compulsory labour, and on any measures taken to ensure that penal sanctions are strictly enforced.