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

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1966)

Articles 3, 4, 6, 7 and 12 of the Convention. Debt bondage of indigenous communities in the Chaco region. Further to its previous comments concerning the debt bondage situation affecting thousands of indigenous workers in the Paraguayan Chaco, the Committee notes the Government’s explanations that it is focusing its efforts on sensitization campaigns and inspections of cattle farms and plantations. The Government adds that as a result of those awareness-raising activities, an unprecedented number of requests have been received concerning the application of labour laws and the protection of workers’ rights. The Committee welcomes the measures taken so far, in particular the labour inspection visits to rural establishments suspected of debt bondage practices, but recalls that such measures must be reinforced and lead to systematic action commensurate to the seriousness and extent of the problem. The Committee therefore asks the Government to provide detailed information on the results of the inspection visits to Chaco estates showing the number and nature of wages-related infringements observed and the sanctions imposed. Recalling that as documented in several ILO studies and official reports of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, debt bondage situations may result through delayed payment of wages, excessive pricing of company store goods, payment in kind instead of cash wages, and absence of wage records, the Committee requests the Government to specify any targeted action to ensure compliance with the requirements of Articles 3 (payment of wages in legal tender), 4 (partial payment of wages in kind), 6 (freedom of workers to dispose of their wages), 7 (works stores) and 12 (payment of wages at regular intervals) of the Convention. Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to refer to its comments made under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169).

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

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]