Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)

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Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. Disciplinary measures applicable to seafarers. For a number of years, the Committee has been requesting the Government to amend the following provisions of the Jamaica Shipping Act, 1998, under which certain disciplinary offences are punishable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour under the Prisons Law):

• section 178(1)(b), (c) and (e), which provides for penalties of imprisonment, inter alia, for wilful disobedience or neglect of duty or combining with any of the crews to impede the progress of the voyage; an exemption from this liability applies only to seafarers participating in a lawful strike after the ship has arrived and has been secured in good safety to the satisfaction of the master at a port, and only at a port in Jamaica (section 178(2));
• section 179(a) and (b), which punishes, with similar penalties, the offences of desertion and absence without leave.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Ministry of Transport and Mining, in consultation with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, is in the process of reviewing sections 178 and 179 of the Shipping Act. The Government states that the necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the provisions of the above-mentioned Act are in compliance with the Convention. In this regard, the Committee once again recalls that Article 1(c) of the Convention expressly prohibits the use of any form of forced or compulsory labour as a means of labour discipline. Therefore, the punishment of breaches of labour discipline, such as desertion, absence without leave or disobedience, with sanctions of imprisonment involving an obligation to perform labour is incompatible with the Convention. Noting that the Government has been referring to the revision of the above-mentioned provisions of the Shipping Act for a number of years and that it has indicated that they were not applied in practice, the Committee expects the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the amendments of the Shipping Act are adopted without any further delay so as to bring the legislation in line with the Convention. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.