Convention
concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour
(Note:
Date of coming into force: 17:01:1959.)
The General Conference of the
International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the
Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its
Fortieth Session on 5 June 1957, and
Having considered the question of
forced labour, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having noted the provisions of the
Forced Labour Convention, 1930, and
Having noted that the Slavery
Convention, 1926, provides that all necessary measures shall be taken to
prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions analogous to
slavery and that the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956, provides
for the complete abolition of debt bondage and serfdom, and
Having noted that the Protection of Wages
Convention, 1949, provides that wages shall be paid regularly and prohibits
methods of payment which deprive the worker of a genuine possibility of
terminating his employment, and
Having decided upon the adoption of
further proposals with regard to the abolition of certain forms of forced or
compulsory labour constituting a violation of the rights of man referred to in
the Charter of the United Nations and enunciated by the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, and
Having determined that these proposals
shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts the twenty-fifth day of June of
the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven, the following Convention,
which may be cited as the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957:
Article 1
Each Member of the International Labour
Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to suppress and not to
make use of any form of forced or compulsory labour--
(a) as a means of political coercion or
education or as a punishment for holding or expressing political views or views
ideologically opposed to the established political, social or economic system;
(b) as a method of mobilising and using
labour for purposes of economic development;
(c) as a means of labour discipline;
(d) as a punishment for having
participated in strikes;
(e) as a means of racial, social,
national or religious discrimination.
Article 2
Each Member of the International Labour
Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to take effective
measures to secure the immediate and complete abolition of forced or compulsory
labour as specified in Article 1 of this Convention.
Article 3
The formal ratifications of this
Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International
Labour Office for registration.
Article 4
1. This Convention shall be binding
only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose
ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.
2. It shall come into force twelve
months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been
registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall
come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its
ratifications has been registered.
Article 5
1. A Member which has ratified this
Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on
which the Convention first comes into force, by an Act communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such
denunciation should not take effect until one year after the date on which it
is registered.
2. Each Member which has ratified this
Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the
period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of
denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of
ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of
each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.
Article 6
1. The Director-General of the
International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International
Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations
communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying the Members of the
Organisation of the registration of the second ratification communicated to
him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the
Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.
Article 7
The Director-General of the
International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter
of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of
denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the
preceding Articles.
Article 8
At such times as may consider necessary
the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the
General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine
the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its
revision in whole or in part.
Article 9
1. Should the Conference adopt a new
Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new
Convention otherwise provides:
a) the ratification by a Member of the
new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of
this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 5 above, if and when
the new revising Convention shall have come into force;
b) as from the date when the new
revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease to be open to
ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention shall in any case
remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have
ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 10
The English and French versions of the
text of this Convention are equally authoritative.