Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Cambodia (Ratification: 1969)

Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention. Use of services exacted under compulsory military service laws. The Committee previously noted that pursuant to the Conscription Law of 2006, compulsory conscription was reintroduced in Cambodia, requiring all male citizens between 18 and 30 years of age to register for military service.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that in 2009, it issued the sub-decree on Conditions and Procedures concerning a census for recruitment, conscription, delays for youth who are studying, and enforcement of the Conscription Law. The Government also states that in 2011, it issued the sub decree on contract military forces. The Committee recalls that, under Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention, work or service exacted by virtue of compulsory military service laws is only excluded from the scope of the Convention on the condition that such work is of a purely military character. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that the services exacted under the Conscription Law (2006) are used for purely military ends. It also requests the Government to provide a copy of the Conscription Law (2006), as well as the sub-decrees issued in 2006 and 2011 pursuant to this Law, with its next report.

Article 2(2)(c). Work imposed as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law. The Committee previously noted that the Government was elaborating a new Law on Prisons. The Committee expressed the hope that the legislation adopted would be in compliance with the Convention in ensuring that any work performed by convicted persons for private entities be performed voluntarily and in conditions approximating a free employment relationship.

The Committee notes that the Law on Prisons was adopted on 30 November 2011. Section 68 of the Law on Prisons states that low risk convicted prisoners who have been assessed as physically capable shall be assigned to work as part of the prison’s daily routine, or to perform any work in the public interest and for the benefit of the community, or assigned to participate in prison industry, prison handicraft and prison farming programmes. The Committee also notes that section 71 of the Law provides that, following the approval from the Minister of Interior, the General Director of Prisons is entitled to enter into a contract to generate employment for the prison industry, handicraft and farming programmes, and is entitled to enter into a contract to sell the products produced. The Committee therefore observes that pursuant to section 68 of the Law on Prisons, prisoners are obliged to perform work, and that pursuant to section 71, this work may include work for private industries.

In this regard, the Committee recalls that Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention permits work to be performed by prisoners (as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law) only if this work or service is carried out under the supervision and control of a public authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations. However, with reference to its 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work, the Committee recalls that work by prisoners for private enterprises can be held compatible with the Convention where the necessary safeguards exist to ensure that the prisoners concerned offer themselves voluntarily, without being subjected to pressure or the menace of any penalty, by giving their formal, free and informed consent to work for private enterprises. In such a situation, work of prisoners for private parties would not come under the scope of the Convention, since no compulsion is involved. Moreover, the Committee has considered that, in the prison context, the most reliable indicator of the voluntariness of labour is that the work is performed under conditions which approximate a free labour relationship, including wages, social security and occupational safety and health. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure prisoners may only perform work for private enterprises (pursuant to section 71 of the Law on Prisons) with their formal and informed consent, and that such consent is free from the menace of any penalty and authenticated by the conditions of work approximating a free labour relationship. It requests the Government to provide information, in its next report, on the measures taken in this regard.