Events in the international community 

Fourth Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea

New York, 2-6 June 2003

Distinguished participants and observers,

All States aspire to achieving full social progress, as emphasized by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The primary goal of the ILO is to promote opportunities for men and women to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Decent work means sufficient work, in the sense that all should have full access to income-generating opportunities. It also means productive work in which rights are protected and which generates adequate income, with adequate social protection.

The goal of providing Decent Work is as relevant to sea workers as it is to land workers. Men and women working on merchant ships and fishing vessels are therefore entitled to decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has placed on the flag State the primary responsibility for ensuring such conditions at sea.

Article 94 of UNCLOS, "Duties of the flag State", provides that "Every State shall effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control in administrative, technical and social matters over ships flying its flag". It further provides that "Every State shall take such measures for ships flying its flag as are necessary to ensure safety at sea with regard, inter alia, to: (a) the construction, equipment and seaworthiness of ships; (b) the manning of ships, labour conditions and the training of crews, taking into account the applicable international instruments; (c) the use of signals, the maintenance of communications and the prevention of collisions".

ILO Conventions and Recommendations, both core Conventions applying to all workers and specific maritime labour standards, are the applicable international instruments governing labour conditions. They set out more specifically the responsibilities of flag States regarding social matters and labour conditions. For merchant shipping, the minimum conditions are those set out in the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147).

Unfortunately, ILO maritime labour standards, in particular Convention No. 147, have not been universally ratified and, in some cases, when ratified have not been fully implemented. Though in a few relatively rare instances Conventions have not been ratified due to the political structure or lack of resources within a State, often they are not ratified because of the lack of political will within the State. This is disappointing. It is in the self-interest of flag States to avoid or mitigate international criticism by ratifying these Conventions and by doing so to show a willingness to work within the international system to maintain and improve living and working conditions at sea. Therefore, even if the Law of the Sea Convention were to obtain universal ratification - or close to it - lack of ratification of ILO standards reveals a gap in the legal protection for people working at sea and perhaps a lack of will to close the gap. In the ILO, we would categorize this as a “decent work deficit” for seafarers.

Such a deficit is no longer acceptable. Not only in its own right, but also due to the impact such a deficit has on maritime safety and the marine environment. If people working at sea are exhausted, unmotivated, ill or in otherwise poor condition, they may not act safely and may not act as responsibly. Life at sea can be very hard, and retaining people who are experienced and who feel they have a long-term stake in the marine environment - people who look at the sea in terms of sustainability and not simply short-term personal or professional gain - requires decent living and working conditions. As all of us, land-based workers and seafarers alike, depend on the sea for transport, food, recreation and other benefits, we all have an interest in working to ensure acceptable and sustainable conditions.

Within the family of international standards adopted by the International Labour Conference, the most basic - the ones that irrefutably apply to all workers - are those concerning freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; the effective abolition of child labour; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. These principles and rights have been affirmed in the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The ILO is working very hard to ensure that all ILO's member States respect, promote and realize in good faith the principles and rights relating to those issues.

In this regard, many standards have been adopted. These cover virtually all aspects of life at sea: entry into employment, labour contracts, food and accommodation, occupational safety and health, medical care at sea, repatriation, social security and other matters. As noted earlier, the most important and influential maritime labour standard - Convention No. 147 - provides minimum standards in these areas. It addresses enforcement not only through flag State control but also port State control.

As indicated in our submission to the Secretary-General's report, we are in the midst of a major exercise to consolidate over 60 international maritime labour standards into one single instrument, a new framework Convention. The new instrument will integrate as much as possible of the relevant elements of the existing body of standards. The aim is to develop an instrument that sets out standards that are clear, simple, easy to ratify and easy to implement. The standard will include improved enforcement mechanisms and a simplified amendment procedure. It is planned that the new standard will be adopted by a special maritime session of the International Labour Conference in 2005.

Throughout its 84 years, the ILO has also sought to improve conditions of fishermen. This has included the adoption of seven standards specifically concerned with labour conditions in this sector, though these standards have not covered the wide range of issues covered by the standards adopted for seafarers. Several of the ILO's maritime labour standards for seafarers have also provided that they may be applied to work on fishing vessels.

We are now preparing a comprehensive standard for work in the fishing sector. The fishing sector is quite varied: from very small vessels operating in harbours or close to the coast to very large trawlers operating in distant waters for extended periods. This makes the development of a comprehensive, widely acceptable yet useful standard a challenge. Nevertheless, we are confident that a standard can be developed that will help mend the holes in the social net for this group of workers. The fishing sector standard will be adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2005. We are working to ensure that it is integrated not only with ILO standards for all workers but also with relevant international instruments concerning fisheries.

Even as I speak to you today, yet another maritime-related ILO initiative is under way in Geneva. At the current 91st Session of the International Labour Conference, consideration is being given to the revision of the Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention to improve the security of seafarers' identification while at the same time facilitating the seafarers' travel to and from their ships, and to protect their right to shore leave in a foreign port.

All this work is relevant to the proper and full implementation of the Law of the Sea Convention for the reasons I have stated a few minutes ago. All - it is hoped - will lead to better implementation by flag States of the responsibilities regarding social matters and labour conditions as set out in Article 94.

Also relevant is the outcome of the recent ILO Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Working and Living Conditions of Seafarers on Board Ships in International Registers. The outcome, in the form of a consensual statement, is attached to the printed copy of my statement that is being made available to you. I shall, however, draw your attention to a few specific points in the statement focusing on the role of flag States. The Meeting agreed that –

“In order to effectively exercise its jurisdiction in social matters, every State shall have a sound maritime administration with a firm legislative framework complying with, as a minimum, international labour standards, and strong enforcement.

The flag State has the overall responsibility for ensuring that the rights of seafarers are respected in relation to service on board ships flying its flag.

Every flag State shall have in place means to enforce decent living and working conditions on ships flying its flag wherever they may be in the world.

Every flag State should ensure that shipowners are responsible for making available to the seafarers the applicable laws, regulations and collective agreements addressing their living and working conditions and should, in accordance with national law and practice, ensure that they are enforced.

All States shall provide easy access to simple and inexpensive procedures enabling all seafarers, regardless of nationality and domicile, to make complaints alleging a breach of national legislation on living and working conditions or employment contracts and/or articles of agreement.”

Again, these are not all the points agreed by the ILO meeting, but they do draw attention to what is often lacking in many flag States and what should be addressed through the revision of ILO maritime labour standards and through the full implementation of the Law of the Sea Convention. Ensuring that flag States address these issues and take on these responsibilities is extremely important. This cannot be achieved without the political will of the world maritime community. Though it is often the Ministry responsible for labour issues that usually has the lead role in promoting the implementation and ratification of ILO standards at the national level, other ministries and authorities must recognize the importance of these standards and must collectively work to ensure they are being implemented and ratified. The UNICPO forum has provided us with the opportunity to reach beyond our usual constituents, and we do so confident that the desired effect will be achieved.

With this in mind, we would therefore request that the report of this fourth session of the UNICPO –

• in keeping with paragraph 248 of the draft Report of the Secretary-General to the Fifty-Eighth session of the General Assembly, confirm that improvements in maritime safety and protection of the marine environment cannot be achieved without ensuring that the labour conditions of people working at sea - seafarers and fishermen - are protected through the ratification and enforcement of the Law of the Sea Convention and international maritime labour standards. To achieve this, every State should have an effective maritime administration with a firm legislative framework complying with these standards;
• encourage not only ministries responsible for labour issues but also ministries and agencies responsible for maritime safety and marine environmental protection to recognize the need for and actively promote the implementation of these standards. Other ministries, including those responsible for foreign affairs, also have a role to play in creating a national will to act on these matters;
• endorse the view that the lack of implementation of international maritime labour standards not only indicates a “decent work deficit” for those working at sea but also reveals significant and disturbing gaps in the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea;
• in keeping with paragraph 250 of the Draft Report of the Secretary General to the 28^th Session of the General Assembly, call for all Member States of the United Nations, and ministries, agencies and stakeholders within those Member States, to take an active interest in the development of new ILO standards for seafarers and fishermen in order to close the above-mentioned gap in the implementation of UNCLOS and to ensure that the standard adopted is fully integrated into the web of international laws aimed at protecting the sea and those who work and depend on it.

Thank you.