Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2015, publiée 105ème session CIT (2016)

Convention (n° 29) sur le travail forcé, 1930 - République arabe syrienne (Ratification: 1960)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Situations of forced labour arising from the armed conflict. Trafficking and sexual slavery. The Committee notes that, with reference to several United Nations agencies, cases of the abduction of women and children with a view to their sexual exploitation have been reported. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations of July 2014, noted the adoption of the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act (Law No. 3/2010), which criminalizes human trafficking. The Committee notes, however, that the CEDAW expressed concern that trafficking in women and girls has increased during the conflict, and that they are at high risk of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation (CEDAW/C/SYR/CO/2, paragraph 33). The Committee also notes the reports submitted by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN Human Rights Council, in February and August 2015 (A/HRC/28/69 and A/HRC/30/48), according to which anti-Government armed groups have targeted women and children on the basis of their gender and religious beliefs, to be taken as hostages for use in prisoner exchanges. These include Yazidi women and girls who have been sold or gifted (and resold and regifted) to Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) fighters and tribal leaders in ISIS-controlled Syrian Arab Republic. Others are imprisoned in houses in towns and villages across the Syrian Arab Republic, where they are held in sexual slavery. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to put an immediate stop to these practices which constitute a serious violation of the Convention and to guarantee that the victims are fully protected from such abusive practices. The Committee recalls that it is crucial that appropriate criminal penalties are imposed on perpetrators so that recourse to trafficking or sexual slavery does not go unpunished. The Committee urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures in this respect, and to provide information on the results achieved.

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