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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Sao Tome and Principe (Ratification: 2005)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. With reference to measures adopted to prevent trafficking in persons, the Committee notes that the Government has not provided information in its report in this respect. The Committee notes that both the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, in their 2023 concluding observations, noted with concern the lack of a coordination strategy to combat trafficking in persons, of prevention and identification of victims of trafficking in persons, and of information on investigations launched and penalties imposed (CEDAW/C/STP/CO/1-5 and CMW/C/STP/CO/1).

The Committee once again requests information from the Government on the measures taken to prevent trafficking in persons for labour and sexual exploitation, particularly on activities to raise awareness of the issue among both the competent authorities and society in general. It also requests information from the Government on the incidence of trafficking in persons in the country, the identification of new cases and, where relevant, the measures taken to investigate and prosecute such cases.

Article 2(2)(a). Work exacted under compulsory military service laws. With regard to the type of work that conscripts undertake as part of compulsory military service, the Government indicates that, during the initial three months, service is limited to physical exercise and preparation for national defence and combat, and that subsequently the focus is on military training. The Government specifies that cleaning and maintenance of military barracks, as well as crop cultivation, are considered civic duties for servicemen and servicewomen, as no civilian may enter the barracks to perform these tasks. The Committee notes this information.

The Committee notes that the Government has not provided specific information on the scope of application of the obligation to perform civic services under Act No. 8/2010 concerning national defence, which provides that civic service may be established to replace or supplement military service (section 7(3)). The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to clarify whether civic service has been established and, if so, to whom the obligation to perform it applies and the specific type of activities that must be performed. It requests the Government to provide a copy of any text regulating this civic service.

Article 2(2)(c). Work exacted as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law. The Committee recalls that the Social Rehabilitation and Prison Administration Service (SERSAP) is responsible for organizing the labour activities that can be performed voluntarily by persons sentenced to a prison term or community service (sections 7 and 43 of Act No. 3, 2003, concerning enforcement of penalties and measures of deprivation of freedom, and section 56 of the Criminal Code). The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that there are no agreements with private bodies and that SERSAP does not currently hold a register of such bodies. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information in its next reports on any change in practice relating to the adoption of agreements with private bodies concerning work by persons sentenced to a prison term or community service.