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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Honduras (Ratification: 1958)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Special dispensation granted to prisoners convicted of political crimes in the prison system. The Committee notes that prisoners convicted for political crimes benefit from special prison arrangements inasmuch as they are not forced to work in prison (Decree No. 460 of 1977 and section 81 of the Criminal Rehabilitation Act (Decree No. 173-84 of 1984)). The Committee would like the Government to point out whether these derogation arrangements are still applied and, if relevant, to give examples of violations considered to come under the category of “political crimes”.

Article 1(d). Penal sanctions imposed for participating in a strike. The Committee notes that, under section 561 of the Labour Code, courts may sentence workers to imprisonment on the grounds that they had committed an offence or breach of discipline by participating in a strike declared illegal. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the practical application of this provision of the Labour Code by giving examples of the breaches of discipline with which the strikers were charged, and the sanctions imposed on them.

The Committee also points out that, under section 590 of the Labour Code, persons taking part in a collective labour dispute to “promote disorder” or undermine the peaceful nature of the dispute shall be detained and arrested by any authority until the end of the strike, or until they have pledged to the courts that they will desist from their actions. The Committee would like the Government to provide information on the practical application of this provision, especially on the interpretation given by the law courts to the term “promote disorder”.