Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1996, publiée 85ème session CIT (1997)

Convention (n° 105) sur l'abolition du travail forcé, 1957 - Ouganda (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its earlier comments.

1. Article 1(a) of the Convention. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with satisfaction that section 48 of the Press and Journalist Statute, 1995, has repealed the Press Censorship and Correction Act as well as the Newspaper, and Publications Act, section 21A of which had provided for the prohibition, enforceable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour) of the publication of any newspaper if the competent minister considered it to be in the public interest. It also notes with interest the adoption of the new Constitution of 1995 which contains in Article 29 provisions for the protection of freedom of expression (including freedom of the press and other media), religion, assembly, demonstration and association.

2. In its earlier comments the Committee referred to the Public Order and Security Act, No. 20 of 1967, empowering the executive to restrict, independently of the commission of any offence, an individual's association or communication with others, subject to penalties involving compulsory labour, the Committee noted the Government's indication that the Act was no longer being used in practice to detain people, but that its legislative revision was still going on, and that the Government would provide a report as soon as the revision was approved by Parliament. The Committee notes that the Government's latest report contains no new information on this subject. It again expresses the hope that the Government will soon be in a position to indicate that the Public Order and Security Act, whose repeal was reported since 1981 as being under way, has actually been repealed.

3. In its earlier comments, the Committee noted that sections 54(2)(c), 55, 56 and 56A of the Penal Code empower the competent minister to declare any combination of two or more persons to be an unlawful society (a power exercised in respect of various political, religious and student organizations by Statutory Instruments Nos. 12 of 1968, 153 of 1972 and 63 of 1973) and thus render any speech, publication or activity on behalf of or in support of any such association illegal and punishable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour). The Committee also noted that a number of orders made under these provisions between 1975 and 1977 were revoked by the Penal Code (Unlawful Society) (Revocation) Order, 1979, but that sections 54(2)(c), 55, 56 and 56A of the Penal Code appeared to remain in force and that by Statutory Instrument No. 15 of 1991 a society was declared unlawful under section 54(2) of the Penal Code. The Committee requested the Government to provide details on this case and any other cases of prohibition as well as on the measures adopted regarding the above provisions to ensure the observance of the Convention.

The Committee notes that, while no such details have been provided so far, the Government states in its latest report that the above-mentioned sections of the Penal Code have been covered by the provisions of the new Constitution which supersedes all the other laws. The Committee accordingly hopes that the necessary measures will be taken to formally repeal or amend these sections of the Penal Code in the light of the new Constitution, in order to ensure the observance of the Convention, and that the Government will indicate the measures taken to this end. Pending amendment of the Penal Code, the Committee again requests the Government to provide details on cases of prohibition under the above provisions.

4. Article 1(c). In its earlier comments the Committee noted that, under section 16(1)(a) of the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 1964, workers employed in "essential services" may be prohibited from terminating their contract of service, even by notice. The Committee noted the Government's statement in its report of 1995 that the section in question concerns collective withdrawal of contract by a number of workmen as a result of a trade dispute and does not stop an individual who has fulfilled his/her obligations and given due notice to terminate his/her services in a normal manner, to do so. The Committee recalled, however, that, under section 16(1)(a) of the Act, any workman in an essential service who wilfully terminates his contract of service, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of his doing so, even alone, will be to deprive the public or any section of the public of that service or to diminish their enjoyment thereof, is subject to penal sanctions. The provisions for termination by notice contained in section 17 apply only "where any collective withdrawal of labour from an essential service is contemplated", and thus would appear not to cover the case of termination by individual workers in the absence of a collective dispute. In the absence of a reference to this point in the Government's report, the Committee again expresses the hope that section 16 of the Act will be suitably amended to ensure that individual workers in the services concerned may duly terminate their contracts by notice.

5. Article 1(d). In its earlier comments the Committee noted that, by virtue of sections 16, 17 and 20A of the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 1964, strikes may be prohibited in various services that, while including those generally recognized as essential ones, also extend to other services, interruption of which would not necessarily endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, and the contravention of these prohibitions may be punished with imprisonment (involving, as previously noted, an obligation to perform work). The Committee noted that the process to review the law was still under way.

In its report of 1995, the Government indicated that the tripartite labour legislation review committee discussed section 16(a) and 17 of the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 1964, in the light of their implicit denial of the freedom of association to those individuals working in "essential services" in the interest of protecting the public against danger to their lives. Although the sections exist in the law, in reality, strikes have occurred in essential services and no one had ever been victimized because of engaging in strikes in essential services; the Government added that nowhere was a penalty involving compulsory labour mentioned under these section. Section 20 of the Act empowering the Minister to certify essential services in case of doubt was also at the centre of the discussions for the law revision committee, which took into account the fears expressed by the Committee, in particular, the overstretching of the category of essential services. The Government concluded that it was not possible to provide a definitive response to the Committee's observations until the law revision process was finalized.

The Committee took due note of these indications. Concerning the compulsory labour following from a sentence of imprisonment, the Committee recalled that under section 46 of the Prisons Ordinance, 1958, every sentence of imprisonment passed upon any criminal prisoner shall subject the prisoner during the term of such sentence to be imprisoned and to work at such labour as may be directed by the officer in charge under the general approval of the Commissioner of Prisons. The Committee previously pointed out that the Convention does not prevent work from being made available to prisoners at their own request, to be performed on a voluntary basis. However, under the above-mentioned provisions, an obligation to perform labour is laid down as an essential incident of punishment in the specific circumstances enumerated in Article 1(d) of the Convention. In the absence of further information on the law revision process in the Government's latest report, the Committee once again expresses the hope that the law revision process that has been referred to by the Government since 1979 will soon be finalized and that the Government will indicate measures taken to bring sections 16, 17 and 20A of the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 1964, into conformity with the Convention, which prohibits the imposition of sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for having participated in a strike.