Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Zimbabwe (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee has noted with interest the information provided by the Government in its first and second reports on the application of the Convention. It would be grateful if the Government would supply, with its next report, copies of the following legislation: the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act, the Miscellaneous Offences Act; laws governing the press and other media; laws governing public assemblies, meetings and processions; laws governing political parties and associations.

Article 1(d) of the Convention. The Committee refers to its comments on the application of Convention No. 98, also ratified by Zimbabwe, where it notes that certain provisions of the Labour Relations Act grant the labour authorities the power to refer labour disputes to compulsory arbitration whenever they consider it appropriate. The Committee notes that, under section 104(3) of the same Act, in such situation, any collective job action is prohibited and deemed unlawful, and under section 112(1) any contravention to this prohibition is punishable with imprisonment (which may involve prison labour by virtue of section 76(1) of the Prisons Act (Cap. 7:11) and section 66(1) of the Prisons (General) Regulations, 1996).

The Committee recalls that Article 1(d) prohibits the use of forced or compulsory labour as a punishment for having participated in strikes. It also refers in this connection to paragraph 123 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, in which it has considered that it is not incompatible with the Convention to impose penalties (even involving an obligation to perform labour) for participation in strikes in essential services, provided that such provisions are applicable only to essential services in the strict sense of the term (that is, services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population). The Committee requests that measures be taken to ensure that the above provisions imposing compulsory arbitration enforced with sanctions involving compulsory prison labour are limited in scope to essential services in the strict sense of the term, and that no sanctions involving compulsory labour can be imposed for participation in strikes in other services. It requests the Government to provide, in its next report, information on the progress made in this regard.