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

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Argentina (Ratification: 1960)

Impact of forced labour of convicted persons on the application of Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee notes the adoption of Decision 1346/2024 establishing the obligation for all inmates of the federal prison service to participate in tasks involving maintenance, cleaning and hygiene of common and individual spaces in prisons. These activities may be performed for five hours a day without pay. The Decision also provides that the federal prison service will draw up specific plans and schedules for the assigned tasks and monitor their implementation.

In this regard, the Committee observes that the Act on terms of imprisonment (No. 24.660), as amended, provides that work constitutes a right and a duty for inmates (section 106); that the current labour and social security legislation must be respected (section 107); and that, notwithstanding the obligation to work, inmates will not be compelled to do work.

The Committee recalls that sentences involving compulsory labour may have an impact on the application of the Convention when they are applied in any of the circumstances provided for in Article 1 of the Convention. Observing that Decision 1346/2024 permits the imposition on prisoners of tasks which may be performed for five hours a day, referring in general to work involving maintenance of common areas in prisons, the Committee requests the Government to clarify the scope of the maintenance work that can be imposed, indicating the type of tasks required and the average daily, weekly or monthly hours imposed, and including examples of schedules established by the federal prison service in this respect.