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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1959)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour imposed for expressing opposition to the established political, economic and social system. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the sanctions applicable in the event of the unlawful use of radio frequencies.

On the other hand, the Committee notes that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in its preliminary observations following the on-site visit to Guatemala, the IACHR Special Rapporteurship for freedom of association in various press releases (26 April 2025 and 2 September 2022) and the final report of 2024, and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, together with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, have expressed concern at the reports received of patterns of the instrumentalization of criminal law for political purposes, attacks, intimidation and judicial harassment based on charges brought for the purposes of silencing protest. In particular, the judicial processes against various journalists, as well as indigenous leaders, on charges described as spurious for allegedly committing ambiguous and disproportionate offences, such as abuse of authority, unlawful association, conspiracy, insurrection, terrorism, incitement to crime, criminal occupancy, obstruction of criminal investigations and obstruction of justice (CEDAW/C/GTM/CO/10, of 14 November 2023, and A/HRC/58/22, of 21 January 2025).

The Committee recalls that, under Article 1(a) of the Convention, persons who, without resorting to violence, hold or express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system, shall not be liable to sanctions which may involve compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted to ensure that persons who express political views or peacefully express opposition to the established political, social or economic system are not liable to sanctions involving compulsory prison labour under the provisions of the Penal Code, such as those on unlawful association and occupancy (“usurpation”).