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

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 asked the Government to provide information on the application in practice of section 119(2) of the Penal Code, which provides that 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 imprisonment of one to three years (with individuals sentenced to imprisonment being obliged to work under the terms of section 24 of the Penal Code). The Government indicated that no criminal court has issued rulings on any cases involving dereliction of duty. The Committee notes once again the Government’s indication in its report that officials who are the subject of requisition orders to perform minimum duties in vital services generally comply with such orders, and any persons who have not complied with them have been neither reported nor prosecuted. Noting that the question of the extent of powers to requisition state officials and officials of territorial communities is being examined under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Committee requests the Government to provide information in future reports on any cases involving recourse by the criminal courts to the provisions of section 119(2) of the Penal Code.