Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

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

In its previous comments, the Committee referred to the allegations made in 2014 by the Independent Trade Union Coalition of Cuba (CSIC) concerning the labour imposed on prisoners, particularly political prisoners, in work camps referred to as Centres for Study and Municipal Work (CETEM). It noted the Government’s reply that any work performed by prisoners, either inside or outside prison premises, is voluntary and remunerated. The Committee requested the Government to specify the manner in which the consent to work is obtained in practice from persons sentenced to imprisonment or correctional labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s confirmation that section 30 of the Penal Code provides that persons sentenced to imprisonment who are fit to work may perform useful tasks, if they consent to do so. With regard to sentences of correctional labour in custody, the Government points out that any prisoner who wishes to work informs the “head of the collective”, who forwards the request.

The Committee notes that while the Penal Code explicitly requires consent to work from persons sentenced to imprisonment, this does not apply to sentences of correctional labour with or without custody. Under sections 31 and 32 of the Penal Code, correctional labour sentences are an alternative to short-term imprisonment and are handed down by the courts when they consider that the convicted person may be “re-educated” through work. These provisions do not refer to the possibility for convicted persons to accept or decline a correctional labour sentence as an alternative to a prison sentence. The Committee also observes that the Penal Code criminalizes acts such as the dissemination of fake news (sections 103.2 and 115), insulting authorities or officials (section 144.1), defamation (sections 204 and 318) or slander (section 320) and establishes short-term prison sentences that could be substituted by the courts with correctional labour sentences.

The Committee also notes that, in its annual report published in April 2017, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States examined the situation in Cuba and referred once again to the restrictions on political rights, the right to association, the right to freedom of expression and dissemination of thought. In 2016, the IACHR and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression “continued to receive worrisome information about illegitimate restrictions on the independent press in Cuba and about State actions designed to use the criminal justice system to inhibit or punish criticism of government policy. Particularly worrisome is the increase in arbitrary detentions, threats, hostile acts, and censorship to the detriment of journalists and activists who disseminate ideas, opinions, and information that is critical of the ruling party.” (2016 Annual Report, Chapter IV, Section B, paragraphs 2, 27 and 101.) The Committee recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention protects persons who express political views or persons peacefully opposed to the established political, social or economic system against the imposition of any form of compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour. The Committee has emphasized in this regard that the range of activities which must be protected, under this provision, from punishment involving compulsory labour thus comprises the freedom to express political or ideological views (which may be exercised orally or through the press and other communications media), as well as various other generally recognized rights through which citizens seek to secure the dissemination and acceptance of their views and the adoption of policies and laws that take those views into account. In light of the above and the fact that the provisions of the Penal Code regulating correctional labour sentences, with or without custody, do not require the consent of the convicted persons, the Committee requests the Government to provide specific information on the time when persons sentenced to correctional labour express their consent to work and on the procedure established to this effect. In view of the fact that labour constitutes the very essence of the sentence, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the consequences arising from a refusal by a convicted person to carry out a correctional labour sentence.