Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Samoa (Ratification: 2008)

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. The Committee previously referred to section 155 of the Crimes Act 2013, which criminalizes transnational trafficking in persons and provides for a penalty of imprisonment of up to 14 years. It notes in this regard, that the Government reiterates, in its report, that no cases of trafficking have been identified and prosecuted pursuant to section 155 of the Crimes Act 2013, and that it works in cooperation with various stakeholders to counter transnational crime in the Pacific region and to secure borders, including through regional workshops, conferences within the Pacific Transnational Crime Network, and cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the characteristics of trafficking in persons in the country and on the measures taken or envisaged to prevent trafficking in persons, for instance through training and awareness-raising campaigns. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on any investigation, prosecution and conviction handed down under section 155 of the Crimes Act 2013, which relates to transnational trafficking in persons. In this regard, it requests the Government to indicate under which provisions of the criminal legislation cases of internal trafficking in persons can be investigated and prosecuted.

Article 25. Penalties for the exaction of forced labour. The Committee notes the adoption of the Labour and Employment Relations Amendment Act 2023, which introduces a specific penalty for the exaction of forced labour under section 18 of the Labour and Employment Relations Act 2013, consisting of a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, or both. The Committee takes due note of the introduction of specific sanctions for the offense of forced labour under the Employment Relations Act, and wishes to underline that, in light of the seriousness of the violation and the fact that sanctions for forced labour need to be dissuasive, legislation providing for the possibility of a fine alone cannot be considered to be effective. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which section 18 of the Labour and Employment Relations Act 2013, as amended, is applied in practice to cases of forced labour identified by the competent authorities, indicating the specific penalties imposed.