Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Peru (Ratification: 1960)

Article 1(d) of the Convention. Imposition of compulsory labour as punishment for participating in a strike. The Committee notes the decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Justice regarding Appeal Case No. 1464-2021/Apurímac in which the Court clarified the content of section 283 of the Penal Code relating to the offence of hindering the operation of public services. According to this provision, any person who, without creating a situation of common danger, impedes, obstructs or hinders the normal operation of transport or of public services in the sectors of telecommunications, sanitation, electricity, gas, and hydrocarbons and their derivatives, will be liable to imprisonment of four to six years. In this respect, the Court pointed out that the element of violence is not required for the offence to exist, but that the presence of the actions of impeding, obstructing or hindering is sufficient. The Court also clarified that section 283 refers to both the public and private transportation of persons or goods insofar as this forms part of the public service.

In this regard, the Committee wishes to emphasize that under the Convention it should not be possible to apply criminal penalties (including prison sentences involving compulsory labour) to workers for participating peacefully in a strike. Criminal penalties should only be applied in situations where, in the context of a strike, violence is used against persons or property, or where another violation of criminal law is committed, or where the interruption of the service endangers the life, safety or health of the whole or part of the population.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to ensure that the provisions of section 283 of the Penal Code are not used to impose criminal penalties involving compulsory labour on workers who participate peacefully in a strike which does not endanger the life, safety or health of the whole or part of the population. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on criminal proceedings in progress and rulings handed down on the basis of section 283 of the Penal Code.