Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Ghana (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous comments: 1. The Committee noted that article 16(1) and (2) of the Constitution of 1992 provides for the prohibition of slavery and forced labour. It also noted the establishment, under article 216 of the Constitution, of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, which is empowered, inter alia, to investigate complaints of violations of fundamental rights and freedoms and to take appropriate action through such means as are fair, proper and effective, including bringing proceedings in a competent court for a remedy (article 218(b) and (d) of the Constitution). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide, in its next report, information on practical activities of that Commission concerning the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and in particular, the protection against the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour. Please describe the activities of the Commission and their results in regard to the Trokosi system, practised in some parts of the Volta Region, to which reference was made by the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (see the Daily Graphic of 25 and 26 May 1995), where young girls of about 10 years of age are pledged into perpetual bondage to serve fetish shrines in atonement for offences allegedly committed by their relatives. Please supply copies of the Commission's annual reports, to which reference is made in article 218(g) of the Constitution. 2. The Committee noted that section 124, paragraphs (2) and (4), of the Criminal Code, 1960 (as amended by section 4 of the Criminal Code (Amendment) Decree, 1969) provides that the whole or any part of any term of imprisonment imposed by the Court shall be spent in "productive hard labour", which means labour in any state farm or state factory or any other public cooperative or collective enterprise specified by the Minister. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would clarify, in its next report, the meaning of the term "collective enterprise", indicating, in particular, whether this means a state-owned enterprise or a private one. Please state what guarantees are provided to ensure that convicted prisoners are not hired to or placed at the disposal of private individuals, companies or associations, as required by Article 2, paragraph 2(c), of the Convention. 3. The Committee noted that section 71 of the Civil Service Law, 1993, provides, inter alia, for the following possibilities for a civil servant to leave the service: voluntary retirement (paragraph (c)), resignation in accordance with such conditions as may be prescribed (paragraph (e)) and the expiry of a limited engagement (paragraph (f)). As regards voluntary retirement, section 73 of the Law stipulates that a person holding a civil service post otherwise than on a limited engagement may retire from the service at any time after he attains the age of 45 years. Please indicate conditions which may be prescribed for resignation under paragraph (e) of section 71 of the Civil Service Law, as well as the duration of limited engagements under paragraph (f) of the same section. 4. Referring to the general observation on the Convention made in its report to the 87th Session of the ILC (1999), the Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information as to the present position in law and practice as regards:

(i) whether there are prisons administered by private concerns, profit-making or otherwise;

(ii) whether any private prison contractors deploy prisoners to work either inside or outside prison premises, either for the account of the contractor or for that of another enterprise;

(iii) whether private parties are admitted by the prison authorities into prison premises of any kind for the purpose of engaging prisoners in employment;

(iv) whether employment of prisoners outside prison premises, either for a public authority or for a private enterprise, is allowed;

(v) the conditions in which employment under any of the above conditions takes place, in respect of remuneration (indicating the level and comparing it with minimum wage normally applicable to such work), benefits accruing (such as pension rights and workers' compensation), observance of occupational safety and health legislation and other conditions of employment (e.g. through labour inspection), and how those conditions are determined;

(vi) what the source of any remuneration is (whether from public or private funds) and for what purposes it must or may be applied (e.g. for the personal use of the prisoner or if it is subject to compulsory deductions);

(vii) for whose benefit is the product of prisoners' work and any surplus profit deriving from it, after deduction of overheads, and how it is disbursed;

(viii) how the consent of the prisoners concerned is guaranteed, so that it is free from the menace of any penalty, including any loss of privileges or other disadvantages following from a refusal to work.