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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Kiribati (Ratification: 2000)

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Article 1(a) of the Convention. Imposition of penal sanctions involving the obligation to work as a punishment for expressing political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system. The Committee recalls that certain provisions of the Penal Code, 1977, on offences relating to the prohibition of false rumours, seditious words or prohibited publications (sections 60, 66, 69(1), 70(3), 75, 76, and 78) as well as of the provisions Public Order Ordinance, 1977, relating to prohibitions concerning meetings, processions, assemblies, flags/emblems/uniforms in connection with political objects (sections 3, 4 and 14) – provide for penalties of imprisonment (involving compulsory labour under sections 46 and 47 of the Prisons Ordinance, 1977).

In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that cases relating to the above-mentioned provisions of the Penal Code and of the Public Order Ordinance have yet to be reported and that there are therefore no court decisions on these issues in practice. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that it has initiated the amendment to these laws, but that it requires ILO technical and financial assistance to support legislative reform in this area.

The Committee wishes to recall, in this respect, that Article 1(a) of the Convention protects persons who express political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political, economic, social, or economic system by establishing that in the context of these activities they cannot be punished with sanctions involving an obligation to work. This also applies in relation to views expressed through the press and other communications media, as well as through various other generally recognized rights, such as the right of association and of assembly. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will undertake a review of the above-mentioned provisions of the Penal Code and the Public Order Ordinance of 1977, so as to ensure that no sanctions involving compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, may, by law, be imposed as a punishment for holding or expressing political or ideological views. It encourages the Government to avail itself of ILO technical assistance in this regard. It also requests the Government to continue providing information on the application in practice of the provisions in question.

Article 1(d). Penalties of imprisonment involving the obligation to work as punishment for participation in strikes. Regarding the Committee’s previous request for information on the application of section 138 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (EIRC), 2015, which, read in conjunction with section 152, provided for penalties for the violation of an order of the Registrar regarding strikes in essential services, the Committee takes due note of the Government’s indication that, to date, there have been no issues in this regard. In addition, the Committee observes that the EIRC was amended in 2021 and that penal sanctions in the form of fines imposed in unlawful, yet peaceful, strikes were repealed and replaced with a “proportionate disciplinary sanction” (including new section 138(5)).