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Consolidation of ILO Maritime Labour StandardsOn 23 February 2006, the 94th International Labour Conference (Maritime) adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, which sets out the conditions for decent work in the increasingly globalized maritime sector. 
The Convention sets minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship and contains provisions on conditions of employment, hours of work and rest, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection. Compliance and enforcement are secured through onboard and onshore complaint procedures for seafarers, and through provisions regarding shipowners' and shipmasters' supervision of conditions on their ships, flag States' jurisdiction and control over their ships, and port state inspection of foreign ships. The Convention also provides for a maritime labour certificate, which can be issued to ships once the flag State has verified that labour conditions on board a ship comply with national laws and regulations implementing the Convention. Among the novel features of the Convention are its form and structure, which includes legally binding standards accompanied by non-mandatory guidelines. It departs significantly from that of traditional ILO Conventions. Parts of the Convention relating to technical and detailed implementation of obligations can be updated under an accelerated amendment procedure. The Convention is to become what has been called the "fourth pillar" of the international regulatory regime for shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization. The new Convention consolidates and updates 68 existing ILO maritime Conventions and Recommendations adopted since 1920. Countries that do not ratify the new Convention will remain bound by the previous Conventions that they have ratified, although those instruments will be closed to further ratification. Additional background information on the consolidation process. Information on the ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, is available from the ILO's International Labour Standards Department. Meeting DocumentsInternational Maritime Labour Conference and related meetings94th
(Maritime) Session of the International Labour Conference Tripartite Intersessional Meeting on the Follow-up to the Preparatory
Technical Maritime Conference
Preparatory
Technical Maritime Conference High-Level Tripartite Working Group on Maritime Labour StandardsFirst meeting, 17-21 December 2001
Second meeting, 14-18 October 2002
Third meeting, 30 June-4 July 2003
Fourth meeting, 19-23 January 2004
Tripartite Subgroup of the High-Level Tripartite Working Group on Maritime Labour StandardsFirst meeting, 24-28 June 2002
Second meeting, 3-7 February 2003
Background information on the consolidation of ILO Maritime Labour StandardsThe International Labour Office launched a major consolidation of the existing body of more than 60 maritime labour instruments into a single instrument in line with recommendations made by the ILO Joint Maritime Commission in January 2001 (The Geneva Accord) and approved by the ILO Governing Body at its 280th Session (March 2001). The objective of the consolidation was to bring the system of protection contained in existing standards closer to the workers concerned, in a form that was consistent with this rapidly developing, globalized sector and to improve the applicability of the system so that shipowners and governments interested in providing decent conditions of work did not have to bear an unequal burden in ensuring such protection. The aim of the consolidation was for greater consistency and clarity, more rapid adaptability and general applicability. The Governing Body of the International Labour Office decided at the above session to convene a Maritime Session of the International Labour Conference in 2005 to adopt the new instrument. To assist with the work of developing such an instrument, it also approved the establishment of a High-Level Tripartite Working Group on Maritime Labour Standards to meet in 2001, 2002 and 2003. It also decided to set up a Sub-Group of the High-Level Tripartite Working Group with a mandate to consider papers prepared for its meetings and to guide the International Labour Office in the preparation of papers and draft texts for consideration of the High-Level Tripartite Working Group. The first meeting of the High-Level Tripartite Working Group was held from 17 to 21 December 2001 and its second meeting was held from 14 to 18 October 2002. The first meeting of the Sub-Group was held from 24 to 28 June 2002 and its second meeting was held from 3 to 7 February 2003. Following the fourth and last meeting of the High Level Tripartite Working Group, held in Nantes in January 2004, the Preparatory Technical Maritime Conference was held in Geneva from 13-24 September 2004. Prior to the International Labour Conference, held in February 2006, the pending issues of the draft Convention were discussed at a Tripartite Intersessional Meeting on the Follow-up to the Preparatory Technical Maritime Conference (Geneva, 21-27 April 2005). The work of the Tripartite Intersessional Meeting was divided into two parts: In order to provide a quick presentation of the proposed maritime labour Convention, the Office prepared a series of frequently asked questions (pdf, 171k). On 23 February 2006, the 94th International Labour Conference (Maritime) adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. |
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