Individual Case (CAS) - Discussion: 2008, Publication: 97th ILC session (2008)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1967)

A Government representative said that his Government accorded particular importance to the Conventions of the ILO, and therefore took the matter very seriously and was addressing it through tripartite dialogue, with interesting joint efforts being made. In that regard, he said that, with the technical cooperation of the ILO and of the Declaration Programme, in September 2007 a tripartite seminar on fundamental rights at work and forced labour had been held, at which it had been decided to establish a commission to address the issue, to be known as the Commission on Fundamental Rights at Work and the Prevention of Forced Labour, and to ask every institution and trade union to designate representatives to serve on the Commission by formal letter. It had also been agreed that a suitable number of representatives would be six titular members and their substitutes for each sector (employers, workers, State), while still allowing for the possibility of asking experts to work alongside the Commission and that, once the respective nominations had been received, the formal establishment of the Commission by decree of the executive authorities would be requested to give it legal force with a view to eradicating forced labour. Last, it was agreed that, once established, the Commission would be given 60 days from the date of its creation to draw up a plan of action on the issue. Information would be provided in that regard in September 2008.

In October 2007, letters had been sent to all public institutions and to the main employers' and workers' federations, requesting them to nominate their respective representatives to the Commission, and nominations had been received from various public institutions and organizations. However, some of them had not yet nominated their representatives. It was the Government's intention that this Commission, with its tripartite structure, should be established as soon as possible so that progress could be made on the seminar's other conclusions, and to that end it had undertaken to send letters reiterating its requests regarding the creation of the Commission.

He recalled that his country had ratified Convention No. 29 on 28 August 1967 and had been bringing its national law and practice into line with the Convention, as could be seen from the reports of the Committee of Experts. He also reported that, in April 2008, a training day had been held with representatives of the Office of the Public Prosecutor (judges for children and adolescents, labour and criminal matters) and among its conclusions had emerged the proposal that other training activities and seminars should be held, and that progress should be made on joint and coordinated activities between the Ministry of Justice and Labour and the Office of the Public Prosecutor, in which respect he requested ILO cooperation.

He added that he had recently travelled to the Chaco region to verify the situation of the regional office there. On that occasion, he had contacted the highest municipal authorities, with whom he had agreed to nominate local people to head and staff the labour department in the area, so as to avoid uprooting people from elsewhere. The Government had promised to nominate persons covered by the budget of the Ministry of Justice and Labour and to collaborate in their training. To that end, he requested technical assistance from the ILO to ensure proper training for those who would fill posts in the regional office. He referred to the characteristics of the indigenous population and the repercussions of forced labour on that population category.

Last, he emphasized that his country was making efforts to address the situation that it faced today. He recognized that a problem of application of the Convention existed and said that the Government wished to promote tripartite initiatives in order to resolve the issues that had arisen, and in that regard he hoped for collaboration from employers and workers, as well as with international technical cooperation.

The Employer members thanked the Government representative for his presentation. In overall terms, they considered that the case was being treated too lightly by both the Government and the Committee of Experts. The situation involved debt bondage and was based on poverty. As the Government representative had indicated, the problem was wider than just affecting the indigenous peoples. When recalling the discussion on the application of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), it might appear that the problem affected a small percentage of the population. But it should be recalled that the informal economy accounted for around 60 per cent of the total economy. The problems identified by the Committee of Experts, including the payment of wages below the legal minimum, the charging of excessive prices for food products, the total or partial payment of wages in kind, were not just problems affecting indigenous communities in the Chaco, but were more widespread. The Government representative had referred to the meeting involving the United Nations and the ILO's Special Action Programme to combat forced labour and to training measures and tripartite consultation. However, the Employer members emphasized the need for greater urgency. The Government representative had mentioned ILO technical cooperation. Once again, much more was needed. An urgent ILO mission should be carried out to identify an overall strategy. They welcomed the Government's commitment to encourage tripartite involvement in the action to be taken. However, there was a political problem in this respect as a new government would be taking office in August. Rapid measures needed to be taken to ensure that the problems under examination were given priority by the new Government. Rather than tactics, what was required was a fully-fledged strategy with the full support of the new Government and the social partners.

The Worker members indicated that the Committee was examining the case of Paraguay in relation to Convention No. 29, but it could also have examined the application of Conventions Nos 87, 111, 169 or 182.

forced to leave their lands, which were requisitioned by large landowners or multinational enterprises, for example for intensive soy bean production. Small farmers therefore faced unemployment and lived in poverty or were confronted by problems such as crime, violence and lack of schooling. On the other hand, they were maintained in situations of servitude and debt bondage, which were common among the indigenous communities of large farms in the Chaco region.

Since 1997, the Committee of Experts had been commenting on these situations of debt bondage in the country, which were amply documented in an ILO report in 2005, undertaken in the context of technical cooperation, and the reports of the NGO Anti-Slavery International in 2006.

Bonded labour took different forms in Paraguay. Workers received wages lower than the legal minimum, that is a symbolic wage. Sometimes they did not receive any wages. Women received even less than men. Moreover, wages were often paid three or four months after the work. The workers therefore found themselves under the obligation to make purchases at the shops in the plantations for which they worked, where the prices were excessively high. Wages were also often paid in kind or in the form of other basic goods, such as soap or candles. These products were very expensive and of low quality. The combination of very low wages, excessive prices and the payment of wages in kind resulted in the workers becoming indebted, forcing them to stay and work in plantations, just like their families, whose children received no education. The long working hours, infrequent holidays, restrictions on leaving the plantation and high illiteracy rates greatly reduced the alternatives available to them.

According to the ILO's 2005 report, the number of persons in situations of bonded labour was estimated at 8,000. The Government was responsible for these situations. The Labour Code provided that agreements were void if they set wages lower than the legal minimum rate and resulted in the direct or indirect obligation to purchase consumer goods in stores or places designated by the employer. The Labour Code also provided that up to 30 per cent of wages could be paid in kind and that the prices of the articles sold had to correspond to those in the village closest to the establishment.

In March 2005, the Ministry of Justice and Labour had organized three separate seminars with employers, unions and the labour inspection services. Following these seminars, the Government had undertaken to publish the ILO's report in Guarani and to establish a labour inspection office in the Chaco region. However, the translation and publication of the report had not yet been carried out, and two labour inspectors had resigned six months after their appointment in view of the lack of support from the capital.

In September 2007, following a tripartite seminar, it had been decided to create a tripartite committee on fundamental principles of work and on the prevention of forced labour. Once established, the committee was to have had 60 days to develop an action plan. The committee had never been created, nor had the inter-agency and multi-sectoral committee responsible for following up the matter. More recently, the situation had deteriorated. On 24 May, Eloy Villalba, a leader of the farmers' trade union movement, had been killed at his house, in front of his children, for having dared to promote agrarian reform and denounce the corruption of certain politicians. These incidents of violence against trade unionists were illustrative of the situation in Paraguay.

A Worker member of Paraguay thanked the Committee for examining the case, which was of great importance for the entire trade union movement in his country. The scourge of forced labour needed to be eradicated not only in his country, but throughout the world. In Paraguay, many indigenous communities lived in the countryside without owning land and were forced to survive on small tracts of arid land, near highways and roads. Many of the members of such communities lacked the essentials for survival. When they worked on neighbouring farms they were exploited, and were frequently not paid wages and subjected to inhumane treatment. Those who migrated to the cities were forced to resort to begging and prostitution. He reiterated that forced labour existed in his country, and its main victims were indigenous persons and children living in various areas of the country, working in the manufacture of bricks, tiles and other products. There were flagrant violations, not only of Convention No. 29, but also in particular of Conventions Nos 138 and 182, as well as the Labour Code. He expressed the hope that progress could be made with the technical cooperation of the ILO and the combined actions of the government authorities, parliament and a justice system that needed to regain its credibility through the due application of the law, without giving priority to the interests of the powerful.

It was fundamental to reinforce ILO technical assistance. He proposed that a stable tripartite commission be established, composed of representatives of the Government, employers and workers, to submit viable work programmes including information and awareness-raising campaigns on the ILO's fundamental Conventions.

Another Worker member of Paraguay, referring to the application of Convention No. 29 in Paraguay, said that the abuse to which aboriginal and indigenous communities, rural workers, transport workers, traders and others were subjected were violations of fundamental ILO Conventions Nos 182, 138, 87 and 98, as the children of indigenous and rural workers were forced to work from an early age, for example in lime quarries and brickworks in the Chaco region, and were not allowed to organize, in violation of Convention No. 98. Nor were there any collective agreements. They lived under extremely abusive conditions, as described in the song "Vale moroti", which meant "worthless credit", as the workers never received wages and were permanently in debt for their food. The writer Roa Bastos described what had been happening since the last century, referring to the life of the workers called "mensu", who were deceived into being hired to work on ranches of the Alto Paraná, never to return; anyone who succeeded in escaping alive was extremely fortunate.

Indigenous people were being forced to abandon their natural habitat and rural workers their settlements, threatened by pseudo-investors who were invading the land to grow soy beans, which produced great profit that did not remain in the country for development. They used toxic agro-chemicals in an indiscriminate manner, harming the environment. Even worse, however, they jeopardized the lives of fellow rural and indigenous workers. Several had already died and others were suffering from serious irreversible health problems. These toxic agro-chemicals were being distributed by the multinational Monsanto in an uncontrolled manner. He indicated that the Sexta Mon enterprise had purchased thousands of hectares of land in the Chaco community of Puerto Casado, including its inhabitants, who continued to be subjected to all manner of abuse with the complicity of the authorities that were currently in office. Indigenous and rural families who left their lands arrived lost and ill-treated in large cities and ended up in alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution, abandoned by the State.

In a country such as Paraguay, with a surface area of 406,752 square kilometres, it was difficult to understand or explain why over 300,000 indigenous and rural families had no access to a small piece of land on which they could live and work in peace with their families. There were currently over 2,000 women and men who were being prosecuted for their involvement in efforts to demand a comprehensive agrarian reform, and over 100 had died in the present transition period, which had already lasted 19 years since the fall of the bloody dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner. On 24 May last, Eloy Villalba, of the National Rural Workers' Organization (ONAC), an affiliate of the CNT, who supported the struggle of the rural workers and indigenous persons in their settlements, had been assassinated in his own home and in the presence of his family.

In the elections of 20 April, the Paraguayan people had expressed their rejection of corruption, impunity and human rights violations, when electing Mr Fernando Lugo as President, who would take office on 15 August. On 1 May, Mr Lugo, after having listened to the workers demands, had indicated that during his Government he would give priority to comprehensive agrarian reform, education, health and the reactivation of production, so as to bring an end to exclusion, extreme poverty and forced migration. Mr Lugo had also said that the country was rich in natural resources and would be open to the international community for healthy and transparent investments so as to build a new Paraguay for everyone.

On behalf of the Coordination of Trade Unions of Paraguay, the member organizations of the Workers' Council of the Southern Cone region and the Coordination of Trade Unions of the Southern Cone region, together with the Trade Union Confederation for the Americas (CTUCA) and ITUC, he reaffirmed his country's commitment to the struggle to build a better world of peace and social justice. In conclusion, he requested the ILO to provide effective cooperation, support and technical advice in this new phase of his country's history beginning on 15 August.

The Worker member of Brazil, on behalf of MERCOSUR workers, said that over the last 18 years the Committee of Experts had made 12 comments on forced labour in Paraguay, particularly with reference to the indigenous population of the Chaco region. Regrettably, no progress had been made. On the contrary, forced labour had been spreading throughout the country and affected other sectors of the economy. The most common form of forced labour in Paraguay was debt bondage.

He indicated that the ILO was already providing technical assistance to the country, but that it was necessary to raise awareness of these problems among the population, and in particular among employers. As an example he referred to the statement broadcast by the director of the Rural Association of Paraguay, in which he had stated that, if money was given to indigenous peoples, the first thing they did was to get drunk, and that any woman of easy virtue could easily deprive them of their last cent, which was why they were normally paid in food and clothing. He called this comment racist, macho and prehistoric. He therefore emphasized that, in order to be able to combat forced labour, it was crucial to recognize its existence and to secure the commitment of the Government and civil society, and particularly of employers. He considered the maintenance and renewal of ILO technical assistance to be essential.

He indicated that the President-elect appeared to be more committed to combating forced labour and that in this context it was important to follow up the recommendations of the Committee of Experts through social dialogue and agreements with the social partners. If given the opportunity, civil society could support this struggle against forced labour. The results of these activities, however, depended on the State, which was responsible for investigating, prosecuting and punishing the perpetrators of forced labour. To this end it was imperative to allocate resources to combat forced labour, providing the relevant departments with human, material and technical resources. In conclusion, he emphasized the need for social policies which focused on literacy campaigns and employment creation, since the root cause of slave labour was the immense poverty of a large portion of the Paraguayan population.

The Government representative of Paraguay said that he had taken note of all the interventions - some of them very critical - and that they would be taken into account in continuing work to eradicate forced labour. As he understood it, there was a consensus to continue working together with the social partners to help the new Government confront these problems. Last, he said he would transmit the observations and concerns expressed during the discussion to the authorities and expressed the hope that his country would continue to receive assistance from the ILO.

The Employer members thanked the Government representative, although they observed that his intervention made the problem seem very distant. Even the observation by the Committee of Experts appeared to take too narrow a view of the problem. In the view of the Employer members, the intervention by the Worker member of Paraguay gave an indication of the true extent of the problem, which affected the economy as a whole. The Employer members agreed that it was essential for the Government to submit a report to the Committee of Experts containing replies to the questions raised in its observations relating to the exaction of forced labour and section 39 of Act No. 210 of 1970 providing for compulsory work by detainees. They noted that the Government was willing to accept technical assistance from the ILO. However, in view of the question of timing with the arrival in office of the new Government, they believed that the Committee's conclusions should allow the Office sufficient discretion so that it could initiate technical assistance when it would be most effective and efficient.

The Worker members recalled the Government's share of responsibility for the persistence of situations of debt bondage. However, the ongoing important political transition in the country needed to be taken into account. Indeed, a democratic and progressive Government had been elected and the new President, Mr Fernando Lugo, would take office on 15 August 2008. Henceforth, the new Government would need to come to terms with the past and undertake to: adopt public policies with a view to eliminating existing illegalities; establishing supervisory mechanisms for the application of national legislation; establish an effective and useful partnership between the social partners; implement agrarian reform; create a Ministry of Labour and Social Security - rather than a Ministry of Justice and Labour - and, finally, accept ILO technical assistance.

Conclusions

The Committee took note of the information provided orally by the Government representative and of the discussion that followed.

The Committee took note that in its comments the Committee of Experts referred to the existence of bonded labour practices in the indigenous communities of the Chaco and in other parts of the country which constituted a serious violation of the Convention.

With regard to the setting up of the Inspection Unit and the creation of the National Tripartite Committee on Fundamental Principles and Prevention of Forced Labour, the Committee observed that these were not functioning and no progress had been made by the action of these bodies.

The Committee took note of the Government's representative's statement that joint action between workers, employers and the Government was indispensable in finding a solution to the problem and that a new Government would be installed next August. The Committee also took note that, regarding the National Tripartite Committee on Fundamental Principles and Prevention of Forced Labour, the latter would be established shortly. Regarding the functioning of the regional office, the Committee took note that the Government had requested ILO cooperation for training of those persons who would be in charge of the office under the Ministry of Justice and Labour. The Committee welcomed the decision by the Government to include, among its priorities, the issue of forced labour in indigenous communities.

The Committee took note with concern of the conditions of forced labour to which the abovementioned communities were subjected and also of the non-compliance with the provisions of national legislation, with regard to the level of wages and the methods of payment which would help prevent forced labour. The Committee also noted the large informal economy where conditions conducive to bonded labour also existed.

The Committee also noted the consequences for the situation of these workers that their condition as landless peasants implied as well as the vulnerable situation that they were placed in by having to move to cities where they were obliged to beg and sometimes to enter into prostitution. Such displacements were the result of the intensive cultivation of soya in the settlements of indigenous communities.

The Committee took note with concern that this situation also affected children, who were forced into dangerous work such as in brickworks, in quicklime factories and quarries and certain sectors of the informal economy. The Committee also took note of the violence carried out against the National Peasants' Organization (ONAC).

The Committee expected that action would be given urgent priority in order to put an end to bonded labour in the indigenous communities of the Paraguayan Chaco as well as in other parts of the country that may be affected, thereby ensuring compliance with the Convention. The Committee took note that the Government had requested ILO technical assistance.