Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2013, publiée 103ème session CIT (2014)

Convention (n° 29) sur le travail forcé, 1930 - Niger (Ratification: 1961)
Protocole de 2014 relatif à la convention sur le travail forcé, 1930 - Niger (Ratification: 2015)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Slavery and slave-like practices. The Committee recalls that the issue of slavery in Niger, which exists in a number of communities where the status of slaves continues to be transmitted by birth to persons from certain ethnic groups, has been the subject of its comments for many years. The Committee previously noted the adoption of significant measures such as Act No. 2003-025 of 13 June 2003 incorporating into the Penal Code sections 270-1 to 270-5, which define the elements constituting the crime of slavery and slavery offences and lay down the applicable penalties, as well as the establishment in August 2006 of the National Committee to combat the vestiges of forced labour and discrimination. The Committee was obliged subsequently to express concern at the lack of information from the Government on the adoption of measures specifically targeting slavery and its vestiges, while, at the same time, there were consistent reports of the persistence of slave-like practices: the 2008 ruling by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against Niger in a case of slavery; the survey produced in 2011 by the National Statistics Office and the International Labour Office on the forms of forced labour in Niger involving adults and children, which found that more than 59,000 adults were victims of forced labour, that is 1.1 per cent of the total adult population – for the most part, these victims performed domestic work (48.2 per cent) or worked in agriculture or stock breeding (23.6 per cent); and the 2011 recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding measures to be taken to combat slavery (A/HRC/17/15).

The Committee deplores that, according to the information contained in the Government’s latest report, the National Committee to combat the vestiges of forced labour and discrimination no longer meets due to a lack of resources, and that it has been impossible to implement the action plan adopted by that Committee in 2007. Although the Government does not provide any further information on the issue of slavery, the Committee found, on the website of the Ministry of Justice, that a workshop was held in January 2013 to launch an “awareness-raising campaign on the texts and Conventions to combat slavery in Niger”, which was attended by the Minister of Justice. On this occasion, the Minister stated that the campaign against slavery was one of the authorities’ major challenges, as the practice of slavery was one of the worst forms of denial of human dignity. Reference was also made to the National Committee to combat trafficking in persons as a tool to combat slavery.

The Committee recalls that it has drawn the Government’s attention to the need of combining legislation criminalizing slavery with a comprehensive strategy to combat slavery that includes measures to raise awareness in society and among competent authorities, as well as measures to combat poverty and measures to assist and reintegrate the victims. In this respect, the Committee stresses that attempts to combat slavery and its vestiges call for specific measures that are different from those required to combat trafficking in persons. Consequently, the Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will take all the necessary measures to adopt a policy or specific strategy to combat slavery, which will define clear objectives and be allocated with sufficient resources for its implementation. Recalling that raising awareness among the population as a whole and training law enforcement and prosecutorial and judicial authorities are a vital component of this policy, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on activities undertaken in this respect, as well as on programmes specifically geared to providing former slaves or descendants of slaves with adequate means of subsistence to prevent them from returning to a situation of vulnerability in which they would once again be exploited for their labour.

Article 25. Application of effective penal sanctions. The Committee underlines that it is essential that victims of slavery should have access, in practice, to the police and judicial authorities in order to assert their rights and that the perpetrators of the crime or offence of slavery should be brought to justice. It recalls in this respect that according to Article 25 of the Convention, the Government must ensure that the penalties prescribed in the Penal Code are really adequate and strictly enforced. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the awareness-raising campaign on the legal texts to combat slavery. The Government is also asked to indicate the measures taken to ensure that this campaign targets areas in which slave-like practices have been noted, as well as the authorities responsible for enforcing the law. The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide, in its next report, information on the complaints lodged, the legal proceedings initiated and the judicial decisions handed down under sections 270-1 to 270-5 of the Penal Code.

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