Due to not taking responsibility by the ministry
Bangladesh process to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention, an important convention of International Labour Organisation (ILO) for ensuring rights of seamen, has remained stuck up for three years due to not taking responsibility by the ministry concerned.
The convention ratification process started in 2008 under the Labour Ministry in its capacity as the authority dealing with ILO.
Officials said due to lack of knowledge about seafarers or seamen, the Labour Ministry did not make much progress in the process of ratification of the ILO convention during the last three years.
An official said the shipping ministry has helped the labour ministry in starting the tripartite process, but that was not enough for the ratification.
He said a fund from International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has also been received to carry out the process.
However, officials said the government has almost completed the works which a country is required to execute after the ratification. These include biometric identity cards for the crew and the ‘discharge book’, considered a lifelong passport or professional document of a seafarer containing all related information like which ports a mariner touches etc.
The general manager (GM) of Haqs and Sons of the country’s biggest seafarer recruiting agency, Syedur Rahman said without ratification of the ILO convention, hundreds of Bangladeshi seafarers would not get benefits of the international maritime facilities including shore leave.
Singapore is among the Asian countries that ratified the Maritime Labour Convention on Tuesday, which will help set out minimum standards and fair working conditions for the country’s seafarers.
“If Bangladesh had ratified the ILO convention, the country’s seafarers would have been enjoying the benefits from the ‘flag ship’s’ state,” the GM said.
According to ILO, before ratification, the country must have tripartite meetings among the owners, the government and the labour groups to agree on the convention. Following the agreement, a proposal must be vetted by the law ministry after which it will be sent to the ILO headquarters for ratification.
With the ratification by Singapore of the MLC, 2006, 14 ILO member-states have now ratified this important convention.
Source: Financial Express