Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2016, publiée 106ème session CIT (2017)

Convention (n° 29) sur le travail forcé, 1930 - Pologne (Ratification: 1958)
Protocole de 2014 relatif à la convention sur le travail forcé, 1930 - Pologne (Ratification: 2017)

The Committee notes the observations of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade Union (“Solidarnosc”) received on 29 August 2016 as well as the Government’s reports.

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Vulnerable situation of migrant workers with regard to the exaction of forced labour. The Committee notes the observations of Solidarnosc, stating that Poland is a country of destination of people who become victims of forced labour, the majority of whom are migrants. Solidarnosc also states that there has been exploitation of citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for forced labour in Poland. The Committee notes Solidarnosc’s indication that there were 239 DPRK workers brought legally to Poland in 2011 and 509 workers brought legally in 2012. According to Solidarnosc’s indication, DPRK workers have to send back to the regime a large part of their legitimate earnings. The Committee notes Solidarnosc’s concern regarding the working conditions of those workers, which might be assimilated to forced labour. Solidarnosc mentions that ten years ago, DPRK workers were discovered in a fruit plantation near Sandomierz on the coastal construction sites. Their salary was only $20 instead of the $850 promised in the contract, their passports were taken away, they were working on average 72 hours per week and they were placed in barracks, from which they were prohibited to leave.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement, in its communication dated 7 October 2016, that in 2016 comprehensive controls of the legality of employment of foreigners in selected entities known to employ DPRK citizens were carried out throughout the country. During those controls, no cases of illegal employment were detected but a number of infringements of the provisions of the Act on Employment Promotion and provisions of the Labour Law were found. In the controlled entities there were no instances of failure to pay or payment of a lower amount than that stated in the foreigners’ work permits. Findings of this respect were made on the basis of evidence of payments presented by the employers (bank transfers and payrolls with signatures of DPRK citizens). The information supplied by the regional labour inspectorates shows the labour inspectors have found no proof that a given employer or entrepreneur would employ a national of the DPRK in conditions giving rise to a suspicion of forced labour.

The Committee also takes notes of the report of the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the situation of human rights in the DPRK of 8 September 2015 (A/70/362). In this report, the Committee notes the Special Rapporteur’s indication that nationals of the DPRK are being sent abroad by their Government to work under conditions that reportedly amount to forced labour (paragraph 24). According to the report, 50,000 DPRK workers operate in countries such as Poland and mainly in the mining, logging, textile and construction industries. The Committee notes, as examples of working conditions, that: the workers do not know the details of their employment contract; workers earn on average between $120 and $150 per month, while employers in fact pay significantly higher amounts to the Government of the DPRK (employers deposit the salaries of the workers in accounts controlled by companies from the DPRK); the workers are forced to work sometimes up to 20 hours per day with only one or two rest days per month; health and safety measures are often inadequate; safety accidents are allegedly not reported to local authorities but handled by security agents; they are given insufficient daily food rations; their freedom of movement is unduly restricted; they are under constant surveillance by security personnel and are forbidden to return to the DPRK during their assignment (paragraph 27); workers’ passports are confiscated by the same security agents; workers are threatened with repatriation if they do not perform well enough or commit infractions; and host authorities never monitor the working conditions of overseas workers. The Committee notes the Special Rapporteur’s indication that companies hiring overseas workers from the DPRK become complicit in an unacceptable system of forced labour and that they should report any abuses to the local authorities, which have the obligation to investigate thoroughly and end such partnership (paragraph 32).

The Committee recalls the importance of taking effective action to ensure that the system of the employment of migrant workers does not place the workers concerned in a situation of increased vulnerability, particularly when they are subjected to abusive employer practices such as retention of passports, deprivation of liberty, non-payment of wages, and physical abuse, as such practices might cause their employment to be transformed into situations that could amount to forced labour. The Committee therefore urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that migrant workers are fully protected from abusive practices and conditions amounting to the exaction of forced labour and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to take concrete action to identify the victims of forced labour among migrant workers and to ensure that these victims are not treated as offenders. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 106th Session and to reply in full to the present comments in 2017.]