All news: seafarer + sea transport

Maritime Labour Convention

EU Presidency holder Spain becomes first EU state to ratify key ILO Maritime Labour Convention

Spain, which currently holds the European Union Presidency, has become the first EU member state to ratify the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, in a major step toward bringing into force a new,...

International cooperation

Somalia: addressing the root causes of piracy and warlordism

Faced with a dramatic increase in piracy off the Horn of Africa, countries have stepped up their efforts to protect shipping in the region. However, attention is now turning more to the question of why people turn to piracy to make a living and what...

Ship breaking

ILO welcomes new regulations on ship breaking as crisis boosts the industry

After more than five years of negotiation, delegates from 59 countries to an International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference signed the Hong Kong Agreement regulating the recycling of ships on 15 May 2009. For the ILO, the agreement is an...

Achieving the seafarers' international bill of rights - half way there!

When the International Labour Organization adopted the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) on 23 February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it a historic moment for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. Three years later this key...

Maritime Labour Convention

Achieving the seafarers’ international bill of rights: more than half way there!

When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) on 23 February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it a historic moment for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. Three years on, in line with the ILO’s five-year Action Plan,...

Maritime Labour Convention

Norway ratifies ILO Maritime Labour Convention

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, H.E. Ms. Angell-Hansen, today deposited the instrument of ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, with the International Labour Organization on behalf of her Government. Norway is the first...

Maritime Labour Convention

Panama Ratifies ILO Maritime Labour Convention

The Ambassador of the Republic of Panama, HE Mr. Juan Alberto Castillero, deposited the instrument of ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 with the International Labour Organization. Panama, the largest flag State in the world, with...

Maritime sector

Proper ship breaking: a test for globalization and decent work

The last voyage of the ship "Otapan" to a Turkish ship breaking yard last July was a victory for "pre-cleaning" advocates of reducing the human and environmental dangers inherent in ship dismantling and recycling. But does it also lead to decent...

Getting ships in shape

As shipping increases, so does the need for more port State control

In response to an oil spill that fouled the west coast of France in 1978, European ministers took decisive action to establish a regional system for inspections of foreign ships in 1982. Yet the growing numbers of ship detentions in many ports...

Maritime Labour Convention

Maritime Labour Convention: Setting sail for a decent future

When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 in February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it “making labour history” for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. Two years on, the MLC has been ratified by three key flag...

Setting sail for a decent future

More than 300 senior representatives of seafarers, shipowners and governments are meeting in Geneva (15 to 26 September) to discuss the new Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC).The MLC is described as a “bill of rights” for the world’s more than...

Bahamas ratifies major new ILO Maritime Labour Convention

The Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas today handed over its instrument of ratification of the historic Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Strengthening security on the high seas and in world ports: ILO Convention on seafarers’ ID card gains new momentum

A growing number of countries have already ratified the ILO's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention No.185 adopted in 2003 or will do so in the near future. The international Convention came into force in February 2005 and creates the first...

Fresh research reveals serious human rights violations of young foreign migrant workers in Thailand

A year-long study finds exploitation, coercion and intimidation in homes, farms, factories and fishing boats.

Abandoned but not lost: Towards global protection for abandoned seafarers

The complexities of globalization and its impact on shipping have made helping seafarers abandoned in foreign ports more pressing than ever. A recently created ILO database on reported incidents of abandonment of seafarers ( Note 1) is the first...