Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Botswana (Ratification: 1997)

Article 2, paragraph 2(c), of the Convention. Work of prisoners for the benefit of private persons. The Committee has noted the Government’s repeated statement in its reports that the Prisons Act does not authorize the hiring to, or placement of, convicted prisoners at the disposal of private individuals. The Committee has also noted the Government’s indication concerning the nature of work to be given to prisoners, which must be of a useful nature and must prepare prisoners for the conditions of normal occupational employment, as described in section 95, read in conjunction with section 92 of the Prisons Act.

However, as regards the Government’s statement that the Prisons Act does not authorize the hiring to, or placement of, convicted prisoners at the disposal of private individuals, the Committee again draws the Government’s attention to section 94(1) of the Prisons Act (Cap. 21:03), under which a prisoner may be employed outside a prison under the immediate order and for the benefit of a person other than a public authority.

The Committee recalls that Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention expressly prohibits that convicted prisoners are hired to, or placed at, the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations. As the Committee repeatedly pointed out, the work of prisoners for private parties is only compatible with the Convention where it does not involve compulsory labour and is carried out with the freely given consent of the persons concerned (see, for example, the explanations in paragraphs 59–60 and 114–120 of the Committee’s 2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour). The Committee has also considered that, in the context of a captive labour force having no alternative access to the free labour market, the most reliable indicator of the voluntariness of labour is the work performed under conditions approximating a free labour relationship, which include wage levels (leaving room for deductions and attachments), social security and occupational safety and health.

The Committee expects that the necessary measures will be taken, both in law and in practice, to ensure that any work or service by prisoners for private persons is performed voluntarily, which necessarily requires the freely given and informed consent of the prisoners concerned, such consent being authenticated by the conditions approximating a free labour relationship as explained above. Pending the adoption of such measures, the Committee again requests the Government to supply specimen copies of agreements concluded between prison authorities and private users of prison labour, as well as information concerning the conditions of work of prisoners for private employers, including copies of prescribed earning schemes to which reference is made in sections 94(3) and 95 of the Prisons Act. Referring also to the Government’s statement in the report that no use has been made of section 95 of the Prisons Act, the Committee hopes that the Government will clarify this issue in its next report.