Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Switzerland (Ratification: 1940)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Switzerland (Ratification: 2017)

Article 2(1) and 2(c) of the Convention. Work of general interest. Prisoners working in establishments managed by private entities. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide additional information on the two following points. Under sections 37–39 of the Penal Code, the courts may order, with the agreement of the offender, work of general interest instead of a sentence of imprisonment of under six months or a financial penalty of a maximum of 180 fine-days. Work of general interest is unpaid and is carried out for the benefit of social institutions, works of public utility or persons in need. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the criteria used by the authorities to determine the type of associations or institutions for the benefit of which work of general interest may be performed, so that the Committee can ascertain that the work performed is indeed of general interest and that the entities for which the work is carried out are not exclusively profit-making. The Committee also requested the Government to provide the list of establishments to which convicted persons can be assigned to perform work of general interest.

With regard to the second point, the Committee noted that, under the terms of section 81 of the Penal Code, detainees who are under the obligation to work may only be engaged by a private employer with their consent. In this respect, the Committee noted that section 379 of the Penal Code empowers the cantons to entrust to establishments managed by private entities the execution of sentences in the form of semi-detention or external work. The Committee requested the Government to indicate in future reports the cases in which the execution of sentences in the form of semi-detention or external work had been entrusted to private entities and, in such cases, to provide information concerning the conditions and modalities of the performance of work by detainees for the benefit of these private entities.

In its last report, the Government indicates that the Confederation does not have available information on the criteria used by the authorities responsible for the execution of sentences in determining the type of associations or institutions for the benefit of which work of general interest is performed, nor a list of the establishments concerned. The same applies to the choice of private entities to which the execution of sentences is entrusted. The Government indicates that a request for information has been sent to the 26 cantonal bodies responsible for the execution of sentences and that this information will be forwarded once it has been received. The Committee notes the action taken by the federal Government to collect the necessary information for the Committee to ensure that full effect is given to the Convention and it hopes that the Government’s next report will contain the information requested.

Trafficking in persons. The Committee notes the adoption on 24 March 2006 of the Federal Order approving the Optional Protocol of 25 May 2000 to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. It notes with interest that this Order amended section 182 of the Penal Code to broaden the elements constituting the crime of trafficking in humans to include trafficking in human beings for the exploitation of their labour. Before this amendment, section 196 of the Penal Code, which has now been repealed, only permitted the penalization of trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation. The Committee also notes from the information available on the Internet site of the Federal Department of Justice and Police that since 2003 a Swiss Coordination Unit against the Trafficking of Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (SCOTT) has been established to develop prevention, repression and protection strategies and measures to combat the trafficking in human beings. The Committee notes that the SCOTT has published a practical guide on cooperation mechanisms against trafficking in human beings, which contains recommendations intended to provide support in practice for cooperation between the judicial authorities and bodies responsible for the protection of victims. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide detailed information in future reports on the manner in which the authorities concerned cooperate and on the difficulties that they encounter in relation to the identification of victims, their protection (health, social and psychological assistance, obtaining a residence permit) and their participation in the judicial procedure; the opening of prosecutions against those responsible and their conviction (in this respect, please provide information on the rulings handed down under new section 182 of the Penal Code); awareness raising and training of the authorities concerned, etc.