Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Uganda (Ratification: 1963)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Legislation concerning compulsory placement of unemployed persons on agricultural enterprises in rural areas. For many years, the Committee has been referring to section 2(1) of the Community Farm Settlement Decree, 1975, under which any unemployed able bodied person may be settled on any farm settlement and required to render service. Section 15 of the Decree makes it an offence punishable with a fine and imprisonment for any person who fails or refuses to live on any farm settlement or who deserts or leaves such settlement without authorization. The Government indicated in its earlier report that the abovementioned Decree was in the process of being repealed. The Committee also noted the statement of the Government representative before the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2006, that the 1975 Decree was a “dead law” which was no longer applied in practice, and that it should be repealed. Noting that the Government’s report contains no new information on this issue, the Committee calls on the Government to formally repeal the Community Farm Settlement Decree, 1975, and that legislation will be brought into conformity with the Convention. The Committee asks the Government to supply a copy of the repealing text, as soon as it is adopted.

2. Freedom of career military officers to leave their service. The Committee previously noted a provision of section 28(1) of the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (Conditions of Service) (Officers) Regulations, under which the Board may permit officers to resign their commission in writing at any stage during their service. The Committee previously noted the Government’s repeated indication in its reports that the officer applying for the resignation must give his/her reasons for it, and the Board will consider these reasons and, if it finds them fit, will grant a permission to resign.

The Committee observed that, under section 28(1) of the above Regulations, the application to resign may be either accepted or refused. Referring also to the explanations provided in paragraphs 46 and 96–97 of its 2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour, the Committee pointed out that career military servicemen who have voluntarily entered into an engagement cannot be deprived 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 trusts that the necessary measures will at last be taken with a view to amending section 28(1) of the above Regulations, so as to ensure conformity with the Convention. Pending the amendment, the Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the application of section 28(1) in practice, indicating in particular the criteria applied by the Board in accepting or rejecting a resignation, as well as the number of resignations accepted and refused.