Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Guinea (Ratification: 1961)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Freedom of association. The Committee previously noted Act No. L/2005/013/AN issuing regulations for associations. It noted that section 37 of this Act states that any founders or leaders of associations, NGOs or their collectives who contravene the provisions of the present Act, who assume or continue to assume, in whatever manner, the administration of an association or an NGO, notwithstanding the refusal to approve it or the withdrawal of such approval or the declaration of nullity, any founder or leader who illegally maintains or reconstitutes an association after the dissolution thereof has been ordered, or any person who perpetuates or seeks to perpetuate a dissolved association by means of covert propaganda, speeches, written material or any other means, shall be liable to punishment in accordance with the legislation in force. The Committee asked the Government to indicate the provisions laying down the criminal penalties to which section 37 refers.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the criminal penalties to which section 37 refers are defined in section 593 of the new Penal Code. It notes that the penalties set forth in section 593 of the Penal Code establish a prison sentence from six months to three years and a fine from 500,000 to 5,000,000 Guinean francs, or one of these two penalties alone. The Committee recalls that, under Article 1(a) of the Convention, persons who hold or express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system cannot be punished by means of prison sentences involving labour, such as the prison sentences established in section 593 of the Penal Code. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which section 37 of Act No. L/2005/013/AN issuing regulations for associations is applied in practice, including by sending a copy of any judicial decision that refers to it, so that it may assess to what extent these measures are compatible with the provisions of the Convention.