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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1960)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 - Costa Rica (Ratification: 2020)

The Committee welcomes the ratification by Costa Rica of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930. It hopes that the Government will provide detailed information on its application, in accordance with the report form adopted by the Governing Body.

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Workers Rerum Novarum (CTRN), received on 31 August 2021 and the Government’s reply in that respect.

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Forced labour in plantations. Trafficking of Nicaraguan workers with the purpose of labour exploitation. The Committee notes that, in its observations, the CTRN refers to the situation of Nicaraguan plantation workers, mostly undocumented, who are victims of trafficking in persons for the workforce in pineapple and sugar cane plantations. The CRTN states that these workers are recruited by contractors, who provide them with false identity cards and offer them working conditions that are not fulfilled in practice , as they work up to 12 hours a day, without social security or conditions of occupational safety and health. Some workers do not receive the promised salary and therefore have no money for food or for their return trip to Nicaragua. Moreover, in some cases, they do not report the situation for fear of being deported.

The Committee notes that, in its reply to the CTRN’s observations, the Government does not provide specific information on the situation of Nicaraguan migrant workers. However, the Committee duly notes the various measures taken to strengthen the legal and institutional framework to combat trafficking in persons referred to in its direct request. The Committee notes in particular the establishment of contact working groups by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the judicial and administrative police in the most vulnerable areas, identified as border areas and areas of lower socioeconomic development, to follow up and address the detection of cases of trafficking in persons.

Taking into account the situation of vulnerability to trafficking in persons for the purpose of labour exploitation in which many undocumented Nicaraguan workers may find themselves, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to: (i) ensure that the labour inspectorate can conduct inspections in plantations with a large presence of Nicaraguan workers; (ii) strengthen cooperation between the police, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in particular the Prosecutor’s Office specialized in the crime of trafficking in persons, and the labour inspectorate to prevent, identify and investigate possible situations of trafficking of Nicaraguan nationals for the purpose of labour exploitation on pineapple and sugar plantations; (iii) facilitate access of Nicaraguan nationals to legal mechanisms so they can assert their rights; and (iv) provide these Nicaraguan nationals with immediate and comprehensive assistance and protection, independent of their migratory status. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in this respect and also refers to its comments under the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129).

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