Convention Concerning Forced Labor

Convention Concerning Forced Labor in the United States

Article 1

1. Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this
Convention undertakes to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in
all its forms within the shortest possible period.

2. With a view to this complete suppression, recourse to forced or
compulsory labour may be had, during the transitional period, for public
purposes only and as an exceptional measure, subject to the conditions and
guarantees hereinafter provided.

3. At the expiration of a period of five years after the coming into force
of this Convention, and when the Governing Body of the International Labour
Office prepares the report provided for in Article 31 below, the said
Governing Body shall consider the possibility of the suppression of forced
or compulsory labour in all its forms without a further transitional period
and the desirability of placing this question on the agenda of the
Conference.

Article 2

1. For the purposes of this Convention the term “forced or compulsory
labour” shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person
under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not
offered himself voluntarily.

2. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this Convention, the term “forced or
compulsory labour” shall not include–

(a) any work or service exacted in virtue of compulsory military service
laws for work of a purely military character;

(b) any work or service which forms part of the normal civic obligations
of the citizens of a fully self-governing country;

(c) any work or service exacted from any person as a consequence of a
conviction in a court of law, provided that the said work or service
is carried out under the supervision and control of a public
authority and that the said person is not hired to or placed at the
disposal of private individuals, companies or associations;

(d) any work or service exacted in cases of emergency, that is to say, in
the event of war or of a calamity or threatened calamity, such as
fire, flood, famine, earthquake, violent epidemic or epizootic
diseases, invasion by animal, insect or vegetable pests, and in
general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the
well-being of the whole or part of the population;

(e) minor communal services of a kind which, being performed by the
members of the community in the direct interest of the said
community, can therefore be considered as normal civic obligations
incumbent upon the members of the community, provided that the
members of the community or their direct representatives shall have
the right to be consulted in regard to the need for such services.

Article 3

For the purposes of this Convention the term “competent authority” shall
mean either an authority of the metropolitan country or the highest central
authority in the territory concerned.

Article 4

1. The competent authority shall not impose or permit the imposition of
forced or compulsory labour for the benefit of private individuals,
companies or associations.

2. Where such forced or compulsory labour for the benefit of private
individuals, companies or associations exists at the date on which a
Member’s ratification of this Convention is registered by the Director-
General of the International Labour Office, the Member shall completely
suppress such forced or compulsory labour from the date on which this
Convention comes into force for that Member.

Article 5

1. No concession granted to private individuals, companies or associations
shall involve any form of forced or compulsory labour for the production or
the collection of products which such private individuals, companies or
associations utilise or in which they trade.

2. Where concessions exist containing provisions involving such forced or
compulsory labour, such provisions shall be rescinded as soon as possible,
in order to comply with Article 1 of this Convention.

Article 6

Officials of the administration, even when they have the duty of encouraging
the populations under their charge to engage in some form of labour, shall
not put constraint upon the said populations or upon any individual members
thereof to work for private individuals, companies or associations.

Article 7

1. Chiefs who do not exercise administrative functions shall not have
recourse to forced or compulsory labour.

2. Chiefs who exercise administrative functions may, with the express
permission of the competent authority, have recourse to forced or compulsory
labour, subject to the provisions of Article 10 of this Convention.

3. Chiefs who are duly recognised and who do not receive adequate
remuneration in other forms may have the enjoyment of personal services,
subject to due regulation and provided that all necessary measures are taken
to prevent abuses.

Article 8

1. The responsibility for every decision to have recourse to forced or
compulsory labour shall rest with the highest civil authority in the
territory concerned.

2. Nevertheless, that authority may delegate powers to the highest local
authorities to exact forced or compulsory labour which does not involve the
removal of the workers from their place of habitual residence. That
authority may also delegate, for such periods and subject to such conditions
as may be laid down in the regulations provided for in Article 23 of this
Convention, powers to the highest local authorities to exact forced or
compulsory labour which involves the removal of the workers from their place
of habitual residence for the purpose of facilitating the movement of
officials of the administration, when on duty, and for the transport of
Government stores.

Article 9

Except as otherwise provided for in Article 10 of this Convention, any
authority competent to exact forced or compulsory labour shall, before
deciding to have recourse to such labour, satisfy itself–

(a) that the work to be done or the service to be rendered is of
important direct interest for the community called upon to do the
work or render the service;

(b) that the work or service is of present or imminent necessity;

(c) that it has been impossible to obtain voluntary labour for carrying
out the work or rendering the service by the offer of rates of wages
and conditions of labour not less favourable than those prevailing in
the area concerned for similar work or service; and

(d) that the work or service will not lay too heavy a burden upon the
present population, having regard to the labour available and its
capacity to undertake the work.


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