Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Croatia (Ratification: 1991)

The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in its report.

1. Article 1, paragraph 1, and Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2(a), of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to state what guarantees are provided to ensure that (with the exception of emergency cases) services exacted during compulsory military service are used for purely military ends. The Committee notes from the report that, according to section 65 of the Defence Act and article 47 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, "duties in the armed forces" means combat duties and auxiliary duties within the organizational structure of the armed forces. The Committee would be glad if the Government would include in future reports examples of the kind of auxiliary duties carried out under this provision.

2. The Committee also asked for information on the right of military officers and other career service personnel to leave the service. The Committee notes with interest the information provided in the report on this matter.

3. The Committee would ask the Government to provide the regulations applying to the resignation of civil servants and government employees referred to in the report.

4. Article 2, paragraph 2(b). The Committee, further to its previous comments, again asks the Government to indicate what work or service may be exacted as normal civic obligations (other than compulsory military service or cases of emergency).

5. Article 2, paragraph 2(c). In its previous comments, the Committee referred to the obligation of convicted prisoners to work (section 32 (1) of the Penal Code). The Committee notes with interest the detailed information and explanations given by the Government in its report. It notes particularly that, according to the existing regulations, work is not compulsory, but that convicted persons who wish to work are enabled to do so in accordance with their own capacities and the capacities of the penal institutions and other factors.

The Committee also notes the legislative provisions and rules concerning hours of work and remuneration, which must not be lower than the minimum wage in the previous quarter. It also notes that, if work is to be performed outside the penal institution, the latter has an obligation to conclude a contract to that effect. The Committee again asks the Government to provide a copy of the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions and the Regulations on Remuneration of Work of Sentenced Persons. It also asks the Government to send a copy of the Rules on the organization of productive and service activities in penal institutions mentioned by the Government in its last report, and, as an example, a model contract concluded for the work of a convicted person serving a prison sentence.

6. The Committee also notes that pursuant to the Serving of Prison Sentences Bill, the work of convicts is not obligatory but it is guaranteed and is to be performed on the basis of a contract of employment. Please send with the next report information on any progress in the examination and adoption of the Bill and a copy of the text as soon as it is adopted.

7. Article 2, paragraph 2(d). The Committee notes with interest the explanations provided by the Government on compulsory work in exceptional circumstances. It would ask the Government to provide a copy of the statutory Decree enacting the Order mentioned in the report.

8. Article 2, paragraph 2(e). The Committee again asks the Government to indicate whether minor communal services may be exacted, in the direct interest of the community, as normal civic obligations of its members, and if so, whether the members of the community have the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

9. Article 25. The Committee again asks the Government to supply information on the application in practice of section 51 of the Penal Law. In its first report, the Government referred to that provision as punishing the illegal compulsion to act against a person's will. The Committee again asks the Government to indicate whether it is used to punish the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour.