Forced Labour Convention

Forced Labour Convention (No.29)

Convention concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour
Member States (green) of the Convention. ILO members that did not ratify are shown in red.
Signed	28 June 1930
Effective	1 May 1932
Condition	2 ratifications
Parties	181[1]
Depositary	Director-General of the International Labour Office
Languages	French and English

The Forced Labour Convention, the full title of which is the Convention Concerning Forced or Compulsory Labour, 1930 (No.29), is one of eight ILO fundamental conventions^[2] of the International Labour Organization. Its object and purpose is to suppress the use of forced labour in all its forms irrespective of the nature of the work or the sector of activity in which it may be performed. The Convention defines forced labour as "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily", with few exceptions like compulsory military service.^[3]

The convention was adopted in Geneva 28 June 1930 and came into force on 1 May 1932. By the end of 1932 ten countries had ratified the convention (Japan, Bulgaria, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Liberia, and Ireland). Austria in 1960, Luxembourg in 1964 and Malta in 1965 were the last Western European countries to ratify the convention. Canada ratified it in 2011 and as of 2022, the United States has not ratified it.^[4]

The convention was supplemented by the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention which canceled a number of exceptions to abolition in the 1930 Convention, such as punishment for strikes and as a punishment for holding certain political views.