Ward and Village Tract Administration Act (2012 Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 7) supplementary article

The government of Myanmar ratified the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), in 1955. Article 25 of Convention No. 29 requires the illegal extraction of forced labour to be punishable as a penal offence and that penalties be “adequate” and “strictly enforced.”^[1]

To reinforce this Convention, the 2012 Ward and Village Tract Administration Act (which repealed the Village Act and the Towns Act of 1907) introduced Section 27A via an amendment that makes the use of forced labour by any person a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine.^[2]

Regarding implementation and effectiveness, in 2023, the Commission of Inquiry concerning non-observance by Myanmar of the Convention found that Myanmar violated Convention No. 29, deeming that the penalties under Section 374 of the Penal Code and Section 27A of the 2012 Ward or Village Tract Administration Law are not “adequate or dissuasive.”^[3]

^[1] International Labour Organization, Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),  June 28, 1930, https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/forced-labour-convention-1930-no-29.

^[2] Union Parliament of Myanmar, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 7/2012 – Ward and Village Administration Amending Act, March 28, 2012, https://myanmar-law-library.org/IMG/pdf/2012-pyidaungsu_hluttaw_law_07-2012-bu.pdf

^[3] Committee on the Application of Standards. Follow-up to the Recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (Complaint Made Under Article 26 of the Constitution of the ILO): Myanmar. Report presented at the 112th Session of the International Labour Conference, Geneva, 3–14 June 2024, https://normlex.ilo.org/dyn/nrmlx_en/f?p=1000:13100:0::NO:13100:P13100_COMMENT_ID,P13100_COUNTRY_ID:4379878,103159.