The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has announced that the ILO Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 – ILO188 can have the potential to create a new era for millions of fishers worldwide.
ITF mentioned in a statement that ILO’s -a UN agency that sets global standards for working conditions- Convention 188 aims to ensure the following for seafarers:
- Improved occupational safety and health and medical care at sea, and that sick or injured fishers receive care ashore
- Receive sufficient rest for their health and safety
- Protection of a written work agreement
- Same social security protection as other workers
- Reassurement that fishing vessels are constructed and maintained so that workers have decent living conditions on board
Johnny Hansen, chair of the ITF fisheries section, commented: “Fishers work in one of the most dangerous and often unpoliced professions in the world. Far too many of them are scandalously and criminally exploited. This should be a turning point in their lives. Our hope is that ILO188 will begin a new era for fishers, that will help to improve conditions across the industry – including by tackling the grotesque and disgusting examples of overwork, non-payment of wages, forced labour and human trafficking that we and others have long fought to expose.”
Concluding, Mr Hansen called on states to ratify and implement this landmark resolution and ask the ILO to actively promote it worldwide.
