Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Guinea (Ratification: 1961)

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Article 1(a) of the Convention. Freedom of association. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information that any founders or leaders of associations, NGOs or their collectives who contravene the provisions of Act No. L/2005/013/AN issuing regulations for associations, by assuming the administration of an association without agreement or maintaining an association after its dissolution shall be liable to imprisonment or a fine, or to one of those penalties (section 37 of the Act, which, according to the Government, refers to the provisions of section 593 of the Criminal Code). The Committee therefore noted that prison sentences involving compulsory labour (under Decree No. 247/72/PRG of 20 September 1972 concerning the establishment and structure of the prison administration and Decree No. 624/PRG/81 of 13 November 1981 supplementing Decree No. 247/72/PRG, and the 2016 Criminal Code) could be imposed for infringements of the provisions of the Act establishing the system of associations. It requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of section 37 of the Act.

The Government indicates in its report that no conviction has been handed down under section 37 of the Act establishing the system of associations. The Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations of 30 March 2020, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights refers to a preliminary bill intended to amend Act No. L/2005/013/AN of 4 July 2005 on the system of associations (E/C.12/GIN/CO/1). The Committee takes this opportunity to recall that, under the terms of Article 1(a) of the Convention, no penalty involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, may be imposed on persons for holding or expressing political views or for expressing their ideological opposition to the established political, social or economic system. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on any criminal penalty handed down for violations of the provisions of Act No. L/2005/013/AN establishing the system of associations (under section 37 of the Act), and, where possible, on the acts giving rise to these convictions. It also requests the Government to provide a copy of any new legislation amending the Act establishing the system of associations.

Communication of legislation. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of Decree No. 2016/309/PRG/SGG of 31 October 2016 establishing the prison regulations, and of any other text governing prison labour.