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

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Zambia (Ratification: 1964)

Article 2(2)(c) of the Convention. Prison labour. The Committee previously noted that, pursuant to sections 51(1) and 52(3) of the Zambia Correctional Service Act, 2021, inmates shall engage in work and may be employed by a registered institution, person or body, upon authorization and on terms and conditions that may be determined.

The Government indicates, in its report, that the possibility for inmates to be employed by certain institutions was introduced with a view to their rehabilitation and reintegration. With this aim, the correctional service has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Zambian textile company to enable inmates to be employed in the production of clothes and garments at Mwembeshi Correctional Centre, under the supervision of correctional officers. With regard to the working conditions of inmates, the Government indicates that Statutory Instrument No. 388 of 1966 provides for the introduction of earnings schemes and sets the rates of earnings. The Government adds that the correctional service does not currently have any private entities employing convicted inmates.

The Committee wishes to underline that work carried out by prisoners for private entities is only compatible with the Convention if it is performed under conditions approximating those of a free employment relationship, that is to say, with the formal, free and informed consent of the persons concerned, and with the guarantees and safeguards covering the essential elements of an employment relationship, such as wages, occupational safety and health, and social security. The Committee therefore requests the Government to continue to indicate whether, in practice, prisoners have been employed by private entities and, if so, to specify how the formal, free and informed consent of the prisoners was obtained, as well as their conditions of employment and remuneration.

Article 25. Penalties for the exaction of forced labour. The Committee previously noted that, pursuant to section 8 of the Employment Code Act, 2019, and section 263 of the Penal Code, the exaction of forced labour is punishable by a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. It drew the Government’s attention to the fact that, given the seriousness of the forced labour offence, legislation providing for the possibility of a fine alone or a very short prison sentence cannot be considered to be effective. The Committee notes that the Government refers only to offences related to trafficking in persons. With a view to assess that perpetrators of forced labour are punished with adequate and sufficiently dissuasive penalties, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the application of the above-mentioned sections of the Employment Code and the Penal Code to cases of forced labour that do not constitute trafficking in persons, indicating the specific penalties imposed in such cases.