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  1. newsroom@ilo.org

All ILO Newsroom content

February 2022

  1. Statement

    Statement of the Officers of the Special Tripartite Committee: the continuing negative impact of the pandemic on seafarers’ rights

    11 February 2022

    Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended (MLC, 2006)

October 2021

  1. COVID-19

    Joint IMO/ILO statement on upholding medical assistance obligations to seafarers and accelerating seafarer vaccination programmes

    06 October 2021

    The heads of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have issued a joint statement calling for port and coastal States to allow seafarers to receive medical care.

December 2020

  1. Statement

    Statement of the Officers of the STC on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) regarding increased collaboration between shipowners and charterers to facilitate crew changes - 15 December 2020

    18 December 2020

    Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended

October 2020

  1. Statement

    New Statement of the Officers of the STC on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - 1 October 2020

    01 October 2020

    Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended

May 2020

  1. COVID-19: Protecting workers

    Sectoral impact: COVID-19 creates rough seas for global shipping and fishing

    12 May 2020

    The COVID-19 crisis is affecting the personal safety and health of seafarers and fishers, their conditions of work and their ability to join and leave their vessels. This has had a negative impact on their capacity to perform their key role in ensuring transport by sea, serving passengers and harvesting seafood. With the shipping sector carrying 90 per cent of global trade and the maritime fishing sector being a major supplier of food and livelihoods, the impact of #COVID-19 on employment in these sectors is therefore substantial.

March 2020

  1. Statement

    Statement of the Officers of the STC on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

    31 March 2020

    Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, as amended

August 2012

  1. Video News Release

    Taking Decent Work on Board

    21 August 2012

    When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) in February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it "making labour history" for seafarers around the world.The MLC, 2006, will come into force 12 months after ratification by 30 ILO member States, representing a total share of at least 33 percent of the world's gross tonnage (gt) of ships. The Convention promotes a strong enforcement regime to ensure that labour standards are enforced as effectively as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) conventions on ship safety, security and environmental protection (SOLAS/MARPOL) by both flag and port States.

April 2011

  1. Video

    Getting On Board with the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

    07 April 2011

    The ILO's Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world's more than 1.2 million seafarers. The Convention aims to achieve both decent work for seafarers and secure economic interests in fair competition for ship-owners.

June 2010

  1. Video

    Canada Ratifies Maritime Labour Convention

    18 June 2010

    ILO TV interviews Cleopatra Doumbia- Henry, Director of the International Labour Standards Department about Canada's ratification of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention. "It demonstrates a re-engagement by Canada with international labour standards and it's the first convention ratified by Canada in ten years," says Ms. Doumbia-Henry. The labour standard, sometimes called the “super convention” because of its scope for protecting the working conditions of seafarers, was adopted by the 94th International Labour Conference in Geneva in February 2006.

January 2006

  1. Video

    Denmark: Port State Control

    19 January 2006

    Long before talk of globalization, seafarers lived and worked in a globalized world, with working conditions subject to 60 different labour conventions and recommendations. The International Labour Organisation has now brought all the different rules and regulations together under one maritime labour convention. ILO TV goes on board a North Sea oil tanker in Denmark to check that all is ship-shape.