Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Barbados (Ratification: 1967)

Article 1(c) of the Convention. Disciplinary measures applicable to seafarers. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to section 148(1)(b) and (c) of the Shipping Act, 1994–15, under which seafarers may be imprisoned for one month and three months, respectively, if guilty of wilful disobedience, or continued wilful disobedience, to any lawful command. Section 149(a) and (b) of the Shipping Act provide that deserting seafarers or seafarers absent without leave may be imprisoned for three and two months, respectively. Moreover, the Committee noted that pursuant to section 64 of the Prison Rules, 1974, sentences of imprisonment require prisoners to work. It hoped that measures would be taken to re-examine these sections of the Shipping Act, with a view to ensuring that no penalties of imprisonment involving compulsory labour may be imposed for violations of labour discipline.

The Committee once again notes the Government’s statement that these provisions of the Shipping Act have never been applied in practice, and that no action has been undertaken to amend the shipping legislation in this regard. Referring to paragraph 312 of its General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work, the Committee recalls that Article 1(c) of the Convention expressly prohibits the use of any form of forced or compulsory labour as a means of labour discipline and that the punishment of breaches of labour discipline with sanctions of imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour) is incompatible with the Convention. Observing that the above provisions of the Shipping Act have been the subject of comments for a considerable number of years, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures as soon as possible to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention and the indicated practice. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.