Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Colombia (Ratification: 1969)

The Committee notes the joint observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the National Employers Association of Colombia (ANDI), received on 29 August 2014, and the observations of the Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CTC), the Single Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CUT) and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), received on 29 August, 31 August and 1 September 2014, respectively.

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. The Committee noted previously that trafficking in persons remains a major problem in Colombia despite the Government’s commitment to combat this scourge and the establishment of a comprehensive legislative and institutional framework. The Committee referred to Act No. 985 of 2005 setting forth measures to combat trafficking in persons and protect victims, and the comprehensive national strategy against trafficking in persons (2007–12), covering prevention, victim protection, international cooperation, and police and judicial investigation.

The Committee notes the comprehensive and detailed information provided by the Government on the measures taken to implement the national strategy. In the area of prevention, the Government refers to the numerous awareness-raising campaigns undertaken by all public authorities involved in combating trafficking. Within the Ministry of the Interior, 32 departmental committees and 48 municipal committees have been established to coordinate activities in this area. The Ministry of Labour has carried out training activities for labour inspectors in order to facilitate their intervention in cases of trafficking for purposes of labour exploitation. The police have established a group to investigate trafficking in persons and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) has set up a free telephone helpline to receive complaints from victims and provide them with assistance. Regarding the protection of victims, the Ministry of the Interior has established an operational anti-trafficking centre which, in 2013, took in 60 victims from other countries who all received assistance before being, for the most part, repatriated. The Government also refers to the efforts made by the Inter-institutional Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons to encourage bilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms, and refers to bilateral agreements signed with Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, Ecuador and Honduras. Lastly, in relation to the judiciary, training activities have been carried out by the Ministry of the Interior for justice officials to ensure a better understanding of trafficking and to improve surveys and judicial procedures. The Ministry of Labour has also carried out activities to study the concept of labour exploitation in order to determine its basic components. Intervention procedures in cases of suspected trafficking have been put in place by the Special Administrative Unit on Migration of Colombia and by the national police. As a result of those actions, in 2013, the police dismantled seven transnational criminal networks and one national network; 28 people were arrested and 11 court decisions were handed down, sentencing the perpetrators to prison terms of between eight and ten years. In addition, according to a report of the Public Prosecutor, as at 31 December 2013, 143 judicial inquiries had been launched, 87 of which were for sexual exploitation and 21 for labour exploitation.

In their observations, all the social partners recognize the measures taken by the various competent bodies in the framework of the national strategy. The OIE and the ANDI emphasize the results achieved at the judicial level to protect victims and strengthen labour inspection. However, the CUT considers that the effectiveness of the strategy is insubstantial, since figures show that the phenomenon is not decreasing but indeed is persisting. Among the causes of trafficking, the CUT refers to the impact of internal armed conflict on the trafficking of women and forced prostitution, as well as the difficulty of gaining access to the formal labour market. Emphasizing that the overwhelming majority of victims of trafficking are women, the CGT refers to the historical discrimination of which they have been victims and emphasizes the need for a genuine public policy that takes into account the issues of gender and territory. The CTC highlights the shortcomings of the labour inspectorate, which is not in a position to access rural areas or mining sites. Lastly, both the CUT and the CTC emphasize the need to strengthen the protection of vulnerable workers (women, children, indigenous workers).

The Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations of May 2013, the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families notes the steadfast efforts of Colombia to combat the crime of trafficking in persons. It nevertheless states its concern at the fact that the State party is one of the primary countries of origin of victims of trafficking in the region, especially women and girls (CMW/C/COL/CO/2).

The Committee notes all this information and encourages the Government to continue its efforts to combat this complex phenomenon, which is further complicated by the fact that Colombia is a departure, transit and destination country for trafficking and that a large number of persons have been displaced as a consequence of the internal armed conflict. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how the implementation and impact of measures taken in the four areas of the national strategy are evaluated and what measures have been taken to overcome the obstacles identified and to adapt the national strategy accordingly. Emphasizing that the coordination of actors is essential in order to identify situations of trafficking in persons and gather the evidence to institute appropriate legal proceedings, the Committee requests the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to that end and to provide information on this subject. Please also provide information on the legal proceedings initiated against perpetrators of trafficking in persons, specifying the penalties imposed. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to strengthen cooperation with countries in which its citizens are victims of trafficking and to ensure their protection, particularly on their return to Colombia.

Article 2(2)(a). Purely military character of work exacted in the context of compulsory military service. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary steps to bring the legislation governing compulsory military service into line with the Convention. The notion of compulsory military service in Colombia, which may be performed in various forms, is much broader than the exception allowed by the Convention. Furthermore, in the case of conscripts who have completed secondary school (bachilleres), the condition required under the Convention in order to exclude military service from its scope, that is, that work exacted in virtue of compulsory military service must be of a purely military character, is not fulfilled. In this regard, the Committee referred to:

• – sections 11 and 13 of Act No. 48 of 1993 regulating the recruitment and mobilization service under which soldiers, and particularly conscripts, shall “carry out activities relating to the furtherance of the wellbeing of the population and the conservation of the environment”; and
• – section 50 of Act No. 65 of 1993 and Decree No. 537 of 1994 regulating military service for graduates in the National Prison Institute, under which conscripts who have completed secondary school may perform their compulsory military service as auxiliaries in the National Prison Guard and Surveillance Service, where they assist prison staff in the guarding, surveillance and reintegration of prisoners.

The Committee notes that, in their observations, the CUT and the CTC call for urgent measures to be taken to end this form of compulsory military service, and the CGT emphasizes the discriminatory nature of this practice, since conscripts who have completed secondary school are mainly young persons in situations of poverty and vulnerability. The CTC also draws attention to the irregularities in the recruitment process for conscripts, which have been noted by the State Council. The Committee also observes in this regard that the information provided by the Government only concerns the procedure established to deal with requests for exemption from compulsory military service, particularly for victims of crimes.

Recalling that according to the statistics provided previously by the Government, there are more conscripts (bachilleres) than regular soldiers, the Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to review the legislation governing compulsory military service and bring it into line with Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention, under which any work exacted in virtue of compulsory military service laws shall be of a purely military character.