By
Rebecca Gibson |
More than 45 International Labour Organization (ILO) member states have ratified its Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006, which enters into force on 20 August.
The UK is the latest country to adopt the convention, protecting the 89,000 seafarers working on its 1,383 registered vessels. The Isle of Man and Gibraltar are also covered by the UK’s ratification.
“The convention will ensure that there are globally agreed standards for seafarers and their right to decent working conditions,” said Stephen Hammond, the UK’s minister for shipping. “It will provide clarity of regulatory approach and remove obstacles to regional trade. It will also ensure a level playing field for the UK merchant fleet because the Convention will require ships registered in other states to meet internationally agreed standards.”
Japan became the tenth country in the Asia-Pacific region to ratify the convention on 5 August. As the world’s second largest ship-owning country, Japan also played a key leadership role in developing the MLC, 2006 before it was adopted in February 2006.
“The ratification by an important maritime nation such as Japan some two weeks before the MLC, 2006 enters into force clearly confirms the readiness of key maritime industry players to endorse the new regulatory framework for maritime employment,” said Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, director of the ILO’s International Labour Standards department. “By ratifying the MLC, 2006, Japan recognises the decisive role this new global standard can play in promoting the competitiveness and maintaining the excellence of the Japanese maritime industry.”
The MLC, 2006 outlines seafarers’ rights to decent living and working conditions and aims to be globally applicable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced. Complementing key International Maritime Organization conventions, it consolidates and updates more than 68 international maritime labour standards and international regulatory regimes. The international standards cover the training and certification of seafarers, ship safety and security, and the prevention of ship source pollution.