Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1992, publiée 79ème session CIT (1992)

Convention (n° 29) sur le travail forcé, 1930 - Tunisie (Ratification: 1962)

1. The Committee once again refers to its observation under this Convention and requests the Government to supply information on the effect given in practice to the provisions of Act No. 89-51 of 14 March 1989 respecting national service, and in particular on the proportion of young persons who have to carry out their service in one of the forms set out in section 3 of the Act, as specified by order of the Secretary-General of the national defence each year, in accordance with section 8 of the Act.

The Committee also requests the Government to supply information on the effect given in practice to Decree No. 1232 of 1 August 1990 fixing the procedures for the detachment of national service conscripts, and in particular on the numbers of conscripts assigned to public or private employers as determined each year by the Minister of National Defence (section 4 of the Decree).

2. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to section 77 of Act No. 83-112 of 12 December 1983 to issue the general conditions of service of employees of the State, of local public communities and of public administrative establishments, under which the resignation of a public servant only takes effect when it is accepted by the chief of the department in question. It also referred to Prime Minister's Circular No. 3 of 31 January 1984 respecting the procedure for applying the provisions of the above Act, under which the absence of a reply from the department regarding a resignation request is equivalent to an implicit decision to reject the resignation. The Committee noted that the public servant may appeal to a joint administrative committee regarding the explicit or implicit rejection of his resignation and that the department may revise its decision following the reasoned opinion given by the joint committee.

The Committee also referred to the particular texts concerning magistrates, members of the armed forces, members of the internal security forces and employees in public industrial and commercial establishments, to whom the Act of 12 December 1983 is not applicable.

The Committee requested the Government to supply information on the effect given in practice to the provisions governing the resignation of these various categories of personnel, and the criteria used by the joint administrative committee in arriving at its opinion, as well as cases of implicit or explicit rejections by the administration of resignation requests.

The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that this information will be transmitted as soon as it becomes available.

The Committee also notes the Government's indications concerning the resignation of members of the armed forces to the effect that, by virtue of section 27 of Act No. 67-20 of 31 May 1967 issuing the general conditions of service of members of the armed forces, "career members of the armed forces may submit their resignation to the Secretary of State for the national defence; if the resignation is approved, the applicant is transferred at his grade to the reserve forces". The Government points out that the resignation of a career member of the armed forces gives rise to no problems in practice, since the approval of the Minister of National Defence is attained as soon as the duty entrusted to the applicant is taken over by another member of the armed forces of the same rank.

With reference to paragraphs 67 to 73 of its 1979 General Survey on the Abolition of Forced Labour, the Committee points out that the right of workers to freely choose their employment may not be prejudiced and that legal provisions that prevent workers from terminating their employment by means of notice of reasonable length have the effect of turning a contractual relationship based on the will of the parties into service by compulsion of law and are incompatible with the Convention. The Committee trusts that the Government will supply the information concerned in the very near future.

The Committee also notes the text of Decree No. 91-559 of 23 April 1991 to organise the air force academy. The Committee notes that section 32, which sets out the conditions for the admission of student officers, provides that candidates must undertake to serve in the air force for a minimum of ten years in addition to the years of studies and training. The Committee notes that certain career options involve six years' training (section 24) and that applicants can be minor of age at the time of their admission (section 32). The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the possibilities available for such student officers to be released from their obligations once they have attained the age of majority by means of notice of reasonable length.