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

Sierra Leone

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) (Ratification: 1961)
Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (Ratification: 2021)

The Committee welcomes the ratification by Sierra Leone of the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930. Noting that the first report of the Government has not been received, the Committee hopes that the Government will provide detailed information on its application, in accordance with the report form adopted by the Governing Body.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Compulsory agricultural work. The Committee recalls that, for a number of years, it has been requesting the Government to formally abrogate section 8(h) of the Chiefdom Councils Act (Cap. 61), under which compulsory cultivation may be imposed on “natives”. The Committee takes due note of the Government’s indication, in its report, that the newly enacted Employment Act, 2023, expressly prohibits forced or compulsory labour under section 16. The Government also reiterates that section 8(h) of the Chiefdom Councils Act (Cap. 61) is not applied in practice and is unenforceable as it does not conform with article 9 of the Constitution and section 16 of the Employment Act, 2023. The Committee however notes with regret that, despite the Government’s previous indication, the Employment Act, 2023, has not repealed section 8(h) of the Chiefdom Councils Act. In light of the Government’s repeated indication that the Chiefdom Councils Act (Cap. 61) would be amended, the Committee reiterates the firm hope that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future in order to formally repeal section 8(h) of the Act or to bring this provision into conformity with the Convention and the indicated practice. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly the Government.