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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Central African Republic (Ratification: 1960)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Idleness, active population and compulsory activities. For many years the Committee has been asking the Government to take the necessary steps to formally repeal the following provisions of the national legislation, which are contrary to the Convention inasmuch as they constitute a direct or indirect compulsion to work:

• -Ordinance No. 66/004 of 8 January 1966 concerning the suppression of idleness, as amended by Ordinance No. 72/083 of 18 October 1972, under which any able-bodied person aged between 18 and 55 years who cannot prove that he or she is engaged in a normal activity providing for his or her subsistence or engaged in studies shall be considered to be idle and shall be liable to imprisonment of one to three years;
• -Ordinance No. 66/038 of June 1966 concerning the supervision of the active population, under which any person aged between 18 and 55 years who cannot prove that he or she belongs to one of the eight categories of the active population shall be called up to cultivate land designated by the administrative authorities and shall also be considered a vagabond if apprehended outside his or her subprefecture of origin and shall be liable to imprisonment;
• -Ordinance No. 75/005 of 5 January 1975 obliging all citizens to provide proof of the exercise of a commercial, agricultural or pastoral activity and rendering any person in breach of this provision liable to the most severe penalties; and
• -section 28 of Act No. 60/109 of 27 June 1960 concerning the development of the rural economy, under which minimum areas for cultivation are to be established for each rural community.

The Committee notes that the Government reiterates in its latest report that the abovementioned provisions of national law have fallen into disuse. The Government also indicates that an inter-ministerial meeting is due to be held in the very near future, and this should result in specific proposals for the repeal of these legislative texts which are contrary to the Convention.

The Committee notes that the Government has reported in recent years on various initiatives aimed at repealing the abovementioned provisions of the legislation which are contrary to the Convention. The Committee trusts that the Government will take the necessary measures to ensure that the inter-ministerial meeting to which it refers can actually take place and result in specific proposals for the repeal of the abovementioned provisions, in order to avoid any legal uncertainty.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.