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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Algeria (Ratification: 1962)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. 1. Vulnerable situation of migrant workers to the exaction of forced labour. The Committee takes due note of the information communicated by the Government concerning social protection and with regard to the labour legislation covering regular or irregular migrant workers. In this connection, the Committee refers to its comments formulated under the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97), also ratified by Algeria.

2. Punishment of vagrancy. The committee recalls that section 196 of the Criminal Code sets out that any person who, having no fixed abode or means of livelihood and ordinarily exercising no trade or occupation despite being fit for work, is unable to justify that he or she has sought work or has refused an offer of paid work shall be deemed guilty of vagrancy and shall be liable to imprisonment ranging from one to six months. The Government indicates that fulfilling comprehensively the material conditions constituting the offence of vagrancy provided by section 196 is difficult. Thus, between 2021 and 2023, on average six prosecutions per year were filed for the offence, with a majority of acquittals handed down, or sentences to fines. No prosecution was filed during the first three quarters of 2024.

The Committee notes this information, which implies a strict interpretation of the provisions of section 196 of the Criminal Code. It observes nonetheless that the authorities make use of this section in practice to punish vagrants, and that it may therefore be considered as constituting an indirect constraint to work. Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to limit the scope of section 196 of the Criminal Code solely to persons who engage in unlawful activity or who disturb the public order. In the meantime, the Government is requested to provide information on any prosecutions filed or punishment imposed under section 196 of the Criminal Code.

3. Freedom of seafarers to leave their employment. The Committee previously requested the Government to amend the provisions of section 56 of Executive Decree No. 05-102 of 26 March 2005 establishing the conditions of employment of seafarers in merchant shipping and fisheries, so as to enable a seafarer to leave his or her employment after expiry of the notice period if he or she is not on national territory at that time. Effectively, pursuant to section 56, the employment relationship may on no account be terminated outside the national territory. Moreover, any seafarer wishing to terminate an employment relationship must inform the shipowner in writing, and the latter has 15 days following receipt of the letter to accept or refuse the resignation request (sections 53 and 55).

The Government indicates that the legal framework regulating maritime transport is under revision, at the initiative of the Ministry of Transport. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures, as part of this revision, to revise Executive Decree No. 05-102 of 26 March 2005, so as to enable a seafarer to leave his or her employment after expiry of the notice period if he or she is not on the national territory at the time.

Article 2(2)(c). Prison labour. Hiring out of prison labour to private enterprises. The Committee refers to section 100(2) of Act No. 05-04 of 6 February 2005, issuing the Code on the organization of prisons and the social rehabilitation of prisoners, which permits the hiring out of prison labour to private enterprises, without the voluntary nature of the prisoner’s work being provided for under national legislation.

The Government indicates in this regard that work in prison promotes rehabilitation through the acquisition of new occupational skills, improved employability and the preparation of a personal project. It is based on the voluntary participation and responsibility of the prisoner, and assignments are decided following consultation of the Committee for the Execution of Sentences. The prisoners are remunerated and receive a certificate of skills on leaving prison. The Government also indicates that no prisoner was employed in private establishments under section 100(2) of the Act in 2022 and during the first quarter of 2024.

The Committee takes good note of this information. It recalls that, to be compatible with the Convention, prisoners working for private enterprises must have given their formal, free and informed consent and that conditions are in place approximating to a free labour relationship. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to continue to indicate whether prisoners have been placed at the disposal of private enterprises under section 100(2) of Act No. 05-04 and if so to: (i) clarify whether the persons consent formally and freely to the work undertaken; (ii) communicate a copy of the “model agreement establishing the general conditions and nature of employment of prison labour” concluded in the event of providing labour, stipulated in section 103 of Act No. 05-04; and (iii) indicate the number of prisoners who work for private entities in this context and the guarantees by which they are covered in practice.