SINGAPORE HOSTS REGIONAL MARITIME CONFERENCE TO
PROMOTE MARITIME LABOUR STANDARDS
(22 July 2002)
Speaking to
about 100 participants from 25 countries, Mr Chen Tze Penn,
Director-General of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA),
said that the MPA has ensured that Singapore operates a quality
merchant fleet which meets major international maritime safety and
labour standards set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)
and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). He added that the MPA
also administers a host of welfare schemes for seafarers at the
opening ceremony of the ILO’s Regional Maritime Conference in the
Asia-Pacific Region and Maritime Inspection Seminar this morning.
Organised by
the MPA and ILO, the 4˝ -day Conference and Seminar are held at the
Grand Plaza Hotel. The theme of this Conference is "Towards a
Sustainable Shipping Industry: Decent Work, an Asian
Perspective". The Conference is organised as part of the
activities of the ILO’s Decent Work in the Maritime Industry
Programme which seeks to promote freedom, equality, security and human
dignity for men and women at work. This Programme was launched in
January 2001.
Based on the
theme, about nine overseas and local speakers would be speaking on a
wide range of topics including the Decent Work Programme and ways to
improve security of seafarers’ identification.
As a special
feature, the MPA would also be organising a ˝-day seminar on
"Seafarers’ Rights and Welfare Onboard Singapore-registered
Ships" on 26 July 2002 at the same venue. Topics covered would
include responsibilities of the MPA and employers for crew matters and
the nature of seafaring as a career.
Officiating
this morning’s Conference were Mr Chen and Mr Yasuyuki Nodera,
Regional Director of the ILO Asia-Pacific Region. This is the first
time that such a Conference is being held in Asia-Pacific.
Attached:
Opening
address by Mr Chen Tze Penn, Director-General, MPA
For more
information, please contact:
Ms Theresa
Pong
Corporate Communications Officer
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Tel: 6375 1628
Fax: 6276 8927
HP: 9763 8925
Email: Theresa_P_L_PONG@mpa.gov.sg
Note to
Editors:
Background on
ILO
The
International Labour Organisation is the United Nations (UN)
specialised agency that seeks to promote social justice and
internationally-recognised human and labour rights. It was founded in
1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of
Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and which
became the first specialised agency of the UN in 1946.
The ILO
formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions
and Recommendations, setting minimum standards of basic labour rights:
freedom of association, the right to organise, collective bargaining,
abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and
other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of
work related issues.
It promotes
the development of independent employers' and workers' organisations
and provides training and advisory services to those organisations.
Within the UN system, the ILO has a unique tripartite structure with
workers and employers participating as equal partners with governments
in the work of its governing organs.
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