Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Ghana (Ratification: 1958)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Imprisonment involving compulsory labour as a penalty for expressing views opposed to the established social system. The Committee notes from the press release of 17 February 2022 of the Parliament of Ghana that the Promotion for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, is currently under consideration by the Parliament. The Committee observes that the objective of the Bill, according to its preamble, is to provide for “proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values” including by proscribing propaganda of, advocacy for or promotion of LGBTTQQIAAP+ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual/aromantic, ally, and pansexual) and related activities. According to section 12 of the Bill, any person who engages in or participates in an activity that promotes or supports sympathy or a change on public opinion towards LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than ten years. Furthermore, pursuant to section 16 of the Bill a person who directly or indirectly forms, organizes, promotes the formation or organization of, or participates in activity to support or sustain a group, society or association that supports acts prohibited by the Bill is liable to imprisonment from 6 to 10 years.

The Committee observes that the memorandum that explains the legislative proposal that “LGBTTQQIAAP+ activities threaten the concept of family and the associated value systems that are central to the social structure of all ethnic groups in Ghana”. The Committee recalls in this respect that the Convention protects persons who express views opposed to the established social system by prohibiting their punishment with sanctions involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour. Therefore, the Committee hopes that this principle and the obligations under the Convention will be taken into account during the consideration of the above-mentioned provisions of the Bill by the Parliament and requests the Government to provide information on any development in this regard.

Article 1(b). Imposition of forced labour as a method of mobilizing and using labour for purposes of economic development. National Service Scheme. The Committee notes that, according to the information available on the official website of the Ghana National Service Scheme, for the period 2022/2023 a total of 115,240 citizens have been enrolled to undertake their mandatory national service. The Committee observes that National Service is established in the Ghana National Service Scheme Act, 1980 (Act 426), which provides for the obligation of every citizen of Ghana, who has attained the age of 18 years or more, to engage full time in national service for a period of two years in different fields, as decided by the National Service Board, including agriculture, cooperatives, education, health, local government, military, rural development (including surveying, physical planning, civil engineering, and rural industries), youth programmes and any other field that the Board may prescribe from time to time (sections 2, 3 and 4). Furthermore, according to section 28 of the Act, the person who refuses or fails without reasonable cause to comply with any direction given by the National Service Board shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or to both.

The Committee observes from the above, that the Ghana National Service Scheme consists of: (i) a system of compulsory labour imposed on all citizens of Ghana for a period of two years; (ii) whose purpose is that such citizens work full time in any of the different sectors of the national economy (as decided by the corresponding authority), and (iii) that failure to engage in such service may constitute an offence punishable by penal sanctions. While the Committee understands that one of the main objectives of the national service scheme (as indicated in its official website) is to provide young persons the opportunity to develop skills through practical training, the scheme, considering its characteristics and scope, would also constitute a system of mobilization of labour for national economic development purposes. In this regard, the Committee recalls that the Convention calls for the suppression of any form of compulsory labour as a method of mobilizing and using labour for purposes of national economic development. Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the current functioning of the National Service Scheme, including the recruitment process, the duration of the services, type of tasks assigned to the persons, the fields currently covered by the scheme, and the number of persons who have been sanctioned for refusing to engage in the national service.