Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Slovenia (Ratification: 1992)

1. The Committee has noted the information provided by the Government in reply to its earlier comments. It has noted, in particular, the provisions of the Defence Act, as amended in 2002, concerning the right of career military servicemen to leave the service, as well as the provisions of the Defence Act governing conscientious objection, supplied by the Government under Article 2(2)(a) of the Convention. The Committee has also noted the rules concerning the enforcement of prison sanctions, 2000, supplied by the Government under Article 2(2)(c). It would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of the Regulation on quotients for determining basic salaries, on criteria and standards for assessing success and results of work of convicts and on rewarding young persons (Ur.l. RS No. 52/2002) referred to by the Government in its report.

2. The Committee has noted the comments made in June 2002 by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on the application of the Convention, in which the ICFTU has referred to a problem of the trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution, alleging that approximately 400 women per year are trafficked into Slovenia from the countries of Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, and approximately 1,000 women per year are trafficked through Slovenia into Western European countries, though the extent to which all of these cases involve forced trafficking is unclear.

The Committee has also noted the Government’s reply to its 2000 general observation concerning trafficking in persons, in which the Government informed of the proposed amendments to the Penal Code which envisaged a new criminal offence of trafficking in persons and described the measures taken to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons for the purpose of exploitation, including international cooperation in this field. The Government indicates that Slovenia is usually a transit country for trafficking, but there have been some cases of employment of foreign women who may be voluntarily or forcibly exploited for prostitution, cases of forced prostitution being treated as a criminal offence of placing under conditions of slavery. The Committee has also noted a work report of the Inter-Departmental Working Group for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (2002), supplied by the Government with its latest report. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken or contemplated to combat trafficking in persons, including measures taken to ensure that the penal provisions against trafficking are strictly enforced against those responsible. Please also supply a copy of the amendments to the Penal Code concerning trafficking in persons referred to above, as soon as they are adopted.