Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1997)

The Committee notes the reports sent by the Government and would appreciate additional information on the following points.

Article 1(a) of the Convention. 1. The Committee notes that under section 23 of Decree No. 70-153 of 23 May 1970 establishing the prison rules, persons serving a custodial sentence for acts constituting crimes or misdemeanours under ordinary law are exempted from the requirement to work only on grounds of age or infirmity or for medically certified health reasons. Section 117, however, establishes that persons serving political sentences are to be treated in the same way as convicts. Since, under section 9 of the Decree, work is not exacted from convicts, persons serving political sentences should not be required to work either. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the offences for which political sentences may be imposed and on the method for determining in practice whether an offence is political.

The Committee recalls in this connection that persons who hold or express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic order and who are sentenced on that account to imprisonment involving compulsory labour are protected by the Convention. Freedom of expression of political or ideological views which is exercised orally or in the press or other media, and the exercise of other rights such as the right of association and the right of assembly through which citizens seek to secure the dissemination and acceptance of their views and the adoption of policies and laws reflecting them, constitute activities which must be protected from punishment involving compulsory labour when they are carried out without violence. In view of the foregoing, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether breaches of the legislative provisions set out below constitute political offences:

-           Penal Code: section 101 (prohibiting unarmed gatherings on public thoroughfares or in other public places which might breach the peace); section 102 (imprisonment for a term ranging from two months to one year for anyone who, having joined an armed or unarmed gathering, fails to leave it after one warning); section 104 (imprisonment for a term ranging from one month to one year for direct provocation to an unarmed gathering either by speeches made in public or by the posting or distribution of written or printed matter);

-           Order No. 91-024 of 25 July 1991 on political parties: section 27 (imprisonment for a term ranging from six months to three years for funding, managing or administering a political party in breach of the provisions of this Order);

-           Act No. 64-098 of 9 June 1964 on associations: section 8 (imprisonment for a term ranging from one to three years for anyone who takes up or continues to hold responsibility for the administration of an association without authorization);

-           Public Meetings Act: section 9 (imprisonment for a term ranging from two months to six months for any breach of the Act);

-           Order No. 91-023 of 27 July 1991 on freedom of the press: sections 11, 17, 18, 24 to 28 in particular (circulation, dissolution or sale of newspapers or other written matter of foreign inspiration or origin or of such a nature as to offend against the principles of Islam or the credit of the State, harm the general interest or jeopardize public order and safety; the distribution, sale, display or holding for the purpose of propaganda such tracts, bulletins and leaflets as may harm the national interest; defamation; insults).

2. The Committee notes that according to article 71 of the Constitution of 1991, the President of the Republic may declare a state of siege and a state of emergency for a period of 30 days, the exceptional powers conferred on the President during such periods being established by law. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide copies of any texts adopted to this end.