Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Burundi (Ratification: 1963)

Article 1(1) and Article 2(1) of the Convention. Conditions governing the resignation of military personnel. The Committee notes that Acts Nos 1/19, 1/20 and 1/21 of 2010, establishing the status of troops, non-commissioned officers and officers of the National Defence Force, were amended by Acts Nos 1/39, 1/40 and 1/41 of 30 November 2022. The Committee takes due note of the provisions of these Acts of 2022, which no longer require termination or resignation to be accepted, and which provide that military careers may come to an end through resignation (Acts Nos 1/39 and 1/40) or through termination (Act No. 1/41). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the conditions governing resignation and termination of engagement for military personnel, specifying whether requests for resignation and termination may be refused or deferred and, if so, indicating the grounds for such refusals or deferrals.

Article 2(2)(c). Sentences of community work. The Committee recalls that, under section 44 of the Penal Code, community work constitutes a principal penalty. Section 54 provides that it is applied by a judge in substitution for a sentence of penal servitude of under two years. Community work may be performed for a public legal entity or an association authorized to carry out community work. Sections 361 to 370 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regulate the performance of community work: associations wishing to obtain authorization to implement community work must request such authorization from the Minister responsible for justice; the list of community work and the procedures under which it is performed are fixed by decree.

The Committee notes that, in its 2024 annual activity report published in January 2025, the Independent National Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) refers to several sentences of community work. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide a copy of the decree establishing the list of community work and the procedures under which it is performed, once it has been adopted. It also requests the Government to provide information, where applicable, on the associations that have received persons sentenced to community work.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report does not contain any of the information requested on the two following points. The Committee therefore reiterates its previous comments.

Article 1(1) and Article 2(1) of the Convention. Suppression of vagrancy. The Committee notes that the Penal Code adopted in 2017 reintroduced provisions penalizing vagrancy. Section 524 provides that any person found in the public highway, with no occupation or trade, and without means of subsistence or fixed abode, may incur from 14 days’ to two months’ penal servitude and a fine, or one of these penalties alone. The Committee underlines that this broad definition of vagrancy contains provisions that are sufficiently general to constitute an indirect compulsion to work and are as such incompatible with the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take appropriate measures to limit the scope of section 524 of the Penal Code so that only persons who disturb the peace or engage in illicit activities may be subject to penalties. In the meantime, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which this section is applied in practice and to provide a copy of any legal decision taken on its basis.

Compulsory agricultural work. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide a copy of the texts repealing the provisions allowing for compulsory participation in certain types of agricultural work by virtue of the following texts: Ordinances Nos 710/275 and 710/276 of 25 October 1979 (agricultural work resulting from obligations relating to the conservation and utilization of the land and the obligation to recreate and maintain minimum areas of fruit crops), the Decree of 14 July 1952, Ordinance No. 1286 of 10 July 1953 and the Decree of 10 May 1957 (texts on compulsory cultivation, porterage and public works).

The Government reiterates that the legislation cited, which dates from the colonial period, is outdated and has been tacitly repealed. The Committee takes due note of this information and hopes that the Government will be able, when undertaking a revision of the legislation, to formally repeal the legislation cited in order to remove any ambiguity in the national legal system. It requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this regard.