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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 1998)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for expressing political views. 1. Public Order Act. The Committee previously requested the Government to repeal section 3(1) of the Public Order Act of 1951, which according to the Government had become obsolete. Under this provision, wearing in any public meeting, without the permission of the chief of police, a uniform signifying association with any political organization or with the promotion of any political object is subject to penalties of imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform compulsory prison labour under the Prisons Ordinance, pursuant to section 18(2)). The Committee also requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of section 15, under which the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in a public place or at a public meeting, with the intent to provoke a breach of peace, is punishable by imprisonment. The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that since 2017 there has not been any arrests, cases or court decisions related to section 15 of the Public Order Act. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on any measures taken to repeal section 3(1) of the Public Order Act, as well as on the application in practice of section 15 of the Public Order Act.

2. Cybercrime Act and Criminal Code. The Committee notes that the Cybercrime Act, which was adopted in 2016, provides that a person who uses a computer system too unlawfully publish any defamatory matter concerning another person, with intend to defame that other person commits an offense and is liable to a fine, or to imprisonment for two years or to both. In this regard, the Committee observes that under section 274 of the Criminal Code, the publication of defamatory matter, either by printing, writing, painting or otherwise by gestures, words or sounds, is also punishable by imprisonment.

The Committee recalls that Article 1(a) of the Convention prohibits the use of “any form” of forced or compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. The range of activities which must be protected from sanctions involving compulsory labour comprises the freedom to express political or ideological views which may be exercised orally or through the press and other communications media. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on any prosecutions initiated or court decisions issued under the above-mentioned provisions, in order to assess their scope of application in practice, indicating in particular the facts that led to the conviction and the penalties imposed.