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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Niger (Ratification: 1962)

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. Imposition of prison sentences involving an obligation to work as a means of labour discipline or as a punishment for having participated in strikes. In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the use made by the national courts of section 119(2) of the Penal Code. According to these provisions, public servants found guilty of dereliction of duty, the aim or effect of which is to prevent or suspend the discharge of their tasks, shall be liable to a sentence of imprisonment of from one to three years. The Committee also drew the Government’s attention to the fact that the national legislation places excessive restrictions on the exercise of the right to strike of state officials and officials of territorial communities. In particular, it lays down the obligation to provide a minimum service in vital services – which are defined more broadly than essential services in the strict sense of the term – and provides for the possibility of requisitioning officials for this purpose (Ordinances Nos 96-009 and 96-010 of 21 March 1996 establishing, respectively, the conditions for the exercise of the right to strike of state officials and officials of territorial communities and the list of strategic and/or vital services).

The Government indicated previously in this regard that in practice there has never been any question of recourse to section 119(2) (dereliction of duty) of the Penal Code to categorize a refusal to comply with a requisition order as a dereliction of duty. It specified that officials who have refused to comply with requisition orders have had their wages docked by the number of days not worked. The Committee notes that in its last report the Government provides no new information on this matter.

The Committee requests the Government in its next report to provide information on the practical effect given to the provisions on dereliction of duty in section 119(2) of the Penal Code. Please provide details of instances where public servants have been prosecuted and punished under these provisions, specifying the factual circumstances cited. The Committee also asks the Government to indicate any penalties imposed on public servants for non compliance with a requisition order in connection with the obligation to provide a minimum service pursuant to Ordinances Nos 96-009 and 96-010 of 21 March 1996. Lastly, as regards the matter of excessive restrictions on the right to strike of state officials and officials of territorial communities, the Committee refers the Government to its comments on the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).