Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1959)

Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. Criminal penalties involving compulsory labour imposed for breaches of labour discipline or for participating in strikes. For many years the Committee has been asking the Government to amend the following sections of the Criminal Code, which establish prison sentences involving compulsory labour (in accordance with section 47 of the Criminal Code and section 17 of the Prisons Act) and can be imposed as a means of labour discipline or for participation in a strike:

• –section 390(2), which provides that any person committing an act intended to paralyse or disrupt an enterprise that contributes to the economic development of the country shall be liable to imprisonment of one to five years;
• –section 419, which provides that any public servant or employee who fails or refuses to carry out, or delays carrying out, any duty pertaining to his/her position or office, shall be liable to imprisonment of one to three years; and
• –section 430, which provides that public servants, public employees and other employees or members of the staff of service enterprises who collectively abandon their posts, work or service, shall be liable to imprisonment of six months to two years.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the participation of prisoners in prison labour is voluntary. However, the Committee recalls that both the Criminal Code and the Prisons Act provide for compulsory work for all prisoners, referring to such work as an obligation and a duty.

The Committee notes that, in the context of the 2013 road map adopted as follow-up to the complaint examined by the Governing Body regarding the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Legislation and Labour Policy Subcommittee of the National Tripartite Committee on Labour Relations and Freedom of Association discussed on several occasions the amendment of the above-mentioned provisions of the Criminal Code with a view to taking the comments of the present Committee into account. It notes that, in the context of the discussion in relation to the follow-up on the implementation of the road map during the 346th Session of Governing Body of the ILO, the Government indicated that in October 2022 the President of the Republic submitted to the Congress of the Republic a legislative initiative containing the texts reviewing sections 390(2) and 430 of the Criminal Code that were approved on a tripartite basis in March 2018 and September 2022.

The Committee refers to its comments on Convention No. 87, and expects that the Bill amending sections 390(2) and 430 of the Criminal Code will be adopted without delay so as to limit the scope of these provisions to prevent the imposition of criminal penalties involving compulsory labour on persons who participate in a strike or for a breach of labour discipline. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on progress made in this respect. The Committee also once again requests the Government to take steps to amend section 419 of the Criminal Code.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.