Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Zimbabwe (Ratification: 1998)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for the expression of views opposed to the established political, social or economic system. In its earlier comments, the Committee referred to sections 64(1)(c), (d); 72(1), (2); and 80 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Cap. 10:27), under which penalties of imprisonment (involving compulsory prison labour) may be imposed for the abuse of freedom of expression, operating a mass media service without a registration certificate, falsification or fabrication of information or contravention of any other provision of the Act.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the fact that those found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act may end up being subjected to prison labour is not in contravention of Article 1 of the Convention. The Government states that persons found guilty of criminal offences as defined in national legislation can indeed be subjected to labour in prisons. The Government also states that the abovementioned provisions of the Act do not penalize the expression of views opposed to the established social or economic system, but rather the abuse of freedom of association, operating a media service without a registration certification and the falsification or fabrication of information. Despite the Government’s assertion that the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act does not penalize the expression of views, the Committee observes that section 64 of the Act, entitled “abuse of freedom of expression” penalizes (with sentences of imprisonment) mass media owners in Zimbabwe, as well as owners of foreign mass media that disseminate products in Zimbabwe, who use a mass media service for the purposes of publishing, inter alia, any statement threatening the interests of defence, public safety, public order, the economic interests of the State, public morality or public health. In this connection, the Committee wishes to emphasize that if legislative restrictions are formulated in such broad and general terms that they may lead to penalties involving compulsory labour as punishment for the peaceful expression of views or of opposition to the established political, social or economic system, such penalties are not in conformity with the Convention.

In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s statement in its report submitted under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), that it is in the process of aligning laws with the new Constitution of 2013. It notes in this respect that the new Constitution includes provisions relating to the protection of freedom of expression (article 61). Referring to the explanations contained in the observation addressed to the Government under this Convention, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the above provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act are amended or repealed, so as to ensure that no prison sentence entailing compulsory labour can be imposed on persons who, without using or advocating violence, express certain political views or opposition to the established political, social or economic system. The Committee invites the Government to provide, in its next report, information on the progress made in this regard. Pending such measures, the Committee requests the Government to supply, with its next report, information on the application of the Act in practice.