Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Solomon Islands (Ratification: 1985)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. Regarding the measures taken to combat trafficking in persons, the Committee welcomes the adoption of the National Action Plan against Human Trafficking and People Smuggling (2020–25) as well as the establishment of the Anti-Human Trafficking Advisory Committee. The Government indicates in its report that this Committee plays a crucial role in overseeing the implementation of the National Action Plan, ensuring that strategies and actions are effectively executed to combat trafficking in persons. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that: (i) targeted awareness programmes are being conducted, particularly in logging camps and other workplaces, to educate workers about trafficking in persons and their labour rights; and (ii) specialized training sessions have been organized by various law enforcement entities, such as the Transnational Crime Unit, Labour Inspectors, Port Security, Immigration Law Enforcement Unit, and Maritime Security, enabling law enforcement officers to be better equipped to identify the signs of trafficking in persons, and take timely and appropriate action to protect victims and investigate criminal activities.

The Committee further notes that according to a report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) of 2023 (Gender-Based Violence, Trafficking in Persons and the logging industry in Solomon Islands), the presence of extractive industries, logging in particular, coupled with the lack of implementation of the legal framework, increased the risk of violence against women and girls and of trafficking in persons in affected communities, especially in remote areas of the country.

The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations of 2025, noted with concern that sex tourism and trafficking of women and girls for sexual services and domestic servitude in mining and logging camps are commonplace, often involving the victims’ families and that the Government has not conducted regular inspections in high-risk sectors nor established a specialized police unit for trafficking in persons. The CEDAW also noted with concern the inadequate financial, technical and human resources allocated for the implementation of the National Action Plan against Human Trafficking and People Smuggling (CEDAW/C/SLB/CO/4-5).

The Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to strengthen the institutional framework to ensure the prevention and identification and effective prosecution of cases of trafficking in persons, both for sexual and labour exploitation. In this regard, it requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to:

• ensure the proper implementation of the National Action Plan against Human Trafficking and People Smuggling (2020–25), indicating the actions developed by the Anti-Human Trafficking Advisory Committee in this regard and the results achieved;
• prevent forced labour and trafficking in persons in the mining and logging sectors, indicating the measures taken to ensure the protection of victims; and
• carry out effective inspections and investigations in the areas and sectors concerned with an indication of the number of investigations carried out, prosecutions initiated, convictions handed down and sanctions imposed under the relevant provisions of the 2012 Immigration Act (Act No. 3), and the Penal Code.

Article 2(2)(a). Exceptions to forced labour. Military service. The Committee takes note of the Government´s indication that there is no military service as yet in the Solomon Islands.

Article 2(2)(c). Prison labour. The Committee recalls that section 60(1) of the 2007 Correctional Service Act and section 185 of the 2008 Correctional Services Regulations establish that all convicted prisoners may be required to perform work, within or outside a correctional centre. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that prisoners are allowed to work in correctional industries, enterprises, and community work outside the prison facilities. Through behavioural assessment and prisoners’ classification, prisoners can be eligible to engage in and work on day release programmes. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether such work can be undertaken for the benefit of private entities and, if it is the case, to provide information on the manner in which their free, formal, and informed consent is obtained in practice. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate if any order has been adopted by theCommissioner relating to the provision of payments to prisoners for work in correctional centre programmes and enterprises (section 226 of the 2008 Correctional Services Regulations).

Article 25. Penalties for the exaction of forced labour. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes with regret that the Government has not provided information on any prosecution initiated, sentence handed down and sanctions applied to cases of forced labour under the relevant legislation: sections 76 and 78 of the 2012 Immigration Act which criminalize trafficking in persons and provide for sanctions of a fine and/or up to five-year imprisonment; sections 141(3) and 145 of the Penal Code that criminalize forced prostitution and internal people trafficking establishing penalties of imprisonment for up to five years for the former and imprisonment for up to 20 years for the latter, and section 257 of the Penal Code which provides that who unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person is guilty of a misdemeanour, which under section 41 of the Penal Code is punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or with a fine or with both.

The Committee recalls that according to Article 25 of the Convention, penalties imposed by the law for the exaction of forced or compulsory labour must be adequate and strictly enforced. Furthermore, the Committee stresses that penalties, such as fines and/or short-term imprisonment for the exaction of forced labour cannot be considered effective, given the seriousness of the offence and the dissuasive effect that penalties should have (2007 General Survey on the eradication of forced labour, para. 137). The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the application of the provisions of the legislation referred to above, as regards convictions and sanctions imposed on the perpetrators of all forms of forced labour, including trafficking in persons. Please also provide information on any training activities undertaken for law enforcement bodies in relation to the identification and prosecution of cases of forced labour.