Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Articles 2–5 of the Convention. Recruitment agencies for seafarers. The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no new information concerning the prohibition of fee-charging recruitment agencies for seafarers or the constitution of advisory committees consisting of an equal number of representatives of shipowners and seafarers to be consulted on matters related to the operation of employment offices for seafarers. Further to its previous comments, the Committee once again points out that the system for the placement of seafarers set out in the Regulations of 2006 on Workers’ Placement Agencies is not in conformity with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of this Convention, but appears to be in substantial conformity with the Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention, 1996 (No. 179).

Article 10. Employment information. The Committee once again requests the Government to make every effort to collect and transmit up-to-date information on the seafarers’ unemployment situation and the work of the various placement agencies, public and private, specifically as regards seafarers.

The Committee takes this opportunity to recall that at the proposal of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards, the ILO Governing Body considered (GB.283/LILS/WP/PRS/1/2, paragraph 12) that Convention No. 9 is an outdated instrument, and invited the States parties to this Convention to consider ratifying Convention No. 179, which allows for the operation of private recruitment agencies within a system of licensing or certification and also permits to charge jobseeking seafarers for the issuance of medical certificates and travel documents. However, most of the provisions of Convention No. 179 have since been incorporated and further expanded in Regulation 1.4, Standard A1.4 and Guideline B1.4 of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), which revises Conventions Nos 9 and 179, as well as 66 other international maritime labour instruments. The Committee therefore hopes that, when reviewing existing legislation, the Government will not fail to give full consideration to the relevant provisions of the MLC, 2006. Moreover, the Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken or envisaged with respect to the early ratification and effective implementation of the MLC, 2006.