"In accordance with the Joint
Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the
Government of the Republic of Portugal on the Question of Macao (hereinafter
referred to as the Joint Declaration), the Government of the People's Republic
of China will resume the exercise of sovereignty over Macao with effect from 20
December 1999. Macao will, from that date, become a Special Administrative
Region of the People's Republic of China and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy,
except in foreign and defence affairs which are the responsibilities of the
Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.
It is provided both in section VIII of
Elaboration by the Government of the People's Republic of China of its Basic
Policies Regarding Macao, which is Annex I to the Joint Declaration, and
Article 138 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China, which was adopted on 31 March 1993 by the National
People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, that international
agreements to which the People's Republic of China is not yet a party but which
are implemented in Macao may continue to be implemented in the Macao Special
Administrative Region.
In accordance with the above provisions, I
am instructed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of
China to inform Your Excellency of the following:
Convention concerning the Abolition of
Forced Labor (No. 105), adopted at Geneva on 25 June 1957 (hereinafter referred
to as the "Convention"), which applies to Macao at present, will
continue to apply to the Macao Special Administrative Region with effect from
20 December 1999.
Within the above ambit, the Government of
the People's Republic of China will assume the responsibility for the
international rights and obligations that place on a Party to the Convention."
(ILO No. 105)
(Adopted at Geneva on 25
June 1957)
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Fortieth Session on 5 June 1957, and
Having considered
the question of forced labour, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the
session, and
Having noted the
provisions of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, and
Having noted that
the Slavery Convention, 1926, provides that all necessary measures shall be
taken to prevent compulsory or forced labour from developing into conditions
analogous to slavery and that the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of
Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery,
1956, provides for the complete abolition of debt bondage and serfdom, and
Having noted that
the Protection of Wages Convention, 1949, provides that wages shall be paid
regularly and prohibits methods of payment which deprive the worker of a
genuine possibility of terminating his employment, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of further proposals with regard to the abolition of certain forms
of forced or compulsory labour constituting a violation of the rights of man
referred to in the Charter of the United Nations and enunciated by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this
twenty-fifth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven
the following Convention, which may be cited as the Abolition of Forced Labour
Convention, 1957:
Article 1
Each Member of the
International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to
suppress and not to make use of any form of forced or compulsory labour--
(a) as a means of
political coercion or education or as a punishment for holding or expressing
political views or views ideologically opposed to the established political,
social or economic system;
(b) as a method of
mobilising and using labour for purposes of economic development;
(c) as a means of
labour discipline;
(d) as a punishment
for having participated in strikes;
(e) as a means of
racial, social, national or religious discrimination.
Article 2
Each Member of the
International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to
take effective measures to secure the immediate and complete abolition of
forced or compulsory labour as specified in Article 1 of this Convention.
Article 3
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 4
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General.
2. It shall come
into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two
Members have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on
which its ratification has been registered.
Article 5
1. A Member which
has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the
date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member
which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article,
will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce
this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided
for in this Article.
Article 6
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications
and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come
into force.
Article 7
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with
Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 8
At such times as it
may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 9
1. Should the
Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part,
then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides:
a) the ratification
by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of
Article 5 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into
force;
b) as from the date
when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease
to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention
shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 10
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.