International Labour Standards Department News

Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry has been appointed president to head the World Maritime University (WMU), as announced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and university. Dr. Doumbia-Henry will be the seventh WMU president and will be the first female in the role. Dr. Doumbia-Henry, who has dual Dominican and Swiss nationality, is currently director of the International Labor Standards Department, of the International Labor Office of the International Labor Organization (ILO). She is expected to assume office as WMU President, in Malmö, Sweden, in July.

International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN). award on behalf of Antwerp Port Authority at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva. recognition of the efforts made on a daily basis by the Antwerp port community on behalf of the many seafarers. port of and for people. presentation. skin colour, language or religious conviction. In fact there have been seamen’s missions in Antwerp from as early as 1870. computers, wifi and sports facilities so that they can relax and keep in touch while they are away from home. Hotel opened with budget-friendly accommodation for seafarers. welfare of seafarers. The port of Antwerp is particularly pleased with this second Welfare Award. international logistics chains that bind our city and port to the rest of the world.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) will mark the coming into force of its historic Maritime Labor Convention, 2006, on August 20, 2013. The ILO Convention, known as “MLC, 2006”, will establish minimum working and living standards for seafarers and be an essential step toward ensuring fair competition and a level-playing field for quality shipowners flying the flags of ratifying countries. To mark the day, the ILO will organize a panel with high-level representatives of seafarers, shipowners and port authorities from Singapore's maritime sector, and Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the ILO International Labour Standards Department, who is the key ILO expert on the Maritime Labor Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006).

The ILO’s Maritime Labour Convention has now been ratified by 30 countries, meaning it will go into effect in a year’s time. The charter sets out the labour rights of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers. The ILO has received the 30th ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) fulfilling the last condition for the first global standard that spans continents and oceans to go into effect in a year’s time. “This is great news for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers,” said ILO Director General Juan Somavia. The MLC, 2006 was adopted unanimously in 2006 but there were two requirements still to be met before it could come into force. The ratification by Russia and the Philippines fulfills the requirement that at least 30 ILO member countries ratify the Convention.

Poland is the 26th ILO member State and the seventh EU member State to have ratified the Convention. Poland has a fleet of over 180 vessels and supplies over 22,000 seafarers to international shipping while in 2011 it was the world’s sixth largest ship-building country for cargo carrying ships. In welcoming the ratification of the MLC, 2006 by Poland, Ms. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the International Labour Standards Department, stated: “The ratification of the MLC, 2006 by Poland, a labour-supplying country with lengthy maritime tradition, is a major step toward bringing this landmark Convention into force. Poland joins today the group of those maritime nations whose commitment and leadership will permit the MLC…