Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Jordan (Ratification: 1958)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its earlier comments. It notes, in particular, the provisions of the Law on Publications and Publishing, No. 8 of 1998, supplied by the Government.

The Committee has previously noted that, since the revocation of martial law in 1991, the Political Parties Act, 1992 (No. 32), and the Press and Publications Act, 1993 (No. 10), have been adopted, and that they contain provisions which could lead to restrictions on the freedoms of opinion, expression and association being enforced with penalties of imprisonment. It has noted the Government’s repeated statement that, even where prisoners are sentenced to penalties of imprisonment involving an obligation to work, the penalty of imprisonment is applied in practice without an obligation to work, since Jordanian prisons are not equipped for this. The Government reaffirms that the majority of prisons in Jordan have been converted into "rehabilitation centres". It indicates that no prisoner is allowed to work until he/she submits a request to the director of the prison establishment indicating his/her interest in working in one of the occupations provided by the prison for rehabilitation; the work of such a prisoner inside the prison establishment is remunerated.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the draft Rehabilitation Centres Act, to which reference has been made in its previous reports and which is intended to supersede the Prisons Act, 1953 (No. 33), has not yet gone through the various phases of its promulgation. The Committee expresses firm hope that statutory effect will soon be given to the practice whereby no compulsory labour is imposed on persons imprisoned for activities coming within the scope of the present Convention. It asks the Government to supply a copy of the Rehabilitation Centres Act as soon as it is promulgated.