The International Labor Organization recently posted a release concerning “the first global biometric identification system for issuing secure identity documents to the 1.2 million seafarers in the world seas….”The release appears below and also is available on the ILO web site here
New international labour convention for seafarers’ ID documents comes into force
Thursday 10 February 2005 (ILO/05/7)
GENEVA (ILO News) - The international Convention that creates the first global biometric identification system for issuing secure identity documents to the 1.2 million seafarers in the world seas came into force as of 9 February 2005, the International Labour Office (ILO) said today.
The Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (No. 185) (Note 1) adopted by the Government, Employer and Worker delegates to the International Labour Conference in June 2003, has been ratified by France, Jordan and Nigeria. Two countries must ratify the Convention before it can come into force.
”The Convention puts in place a comprehensive security system that enables the first global implementation of biometric identification technology on a mandatory basis, thus enabling positive identification of the seafarer that holds the document,” explained Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the ILO International Standards Department.
The negotiations that concluded with the adoption of Convention No. 185 were held in response to the need for greater global security, while guaranteeing the rights of workers in the shipping fleet, which handles nearly 90 per cent of world trade.
In March 2004 the Governing Body of the ILO approved standards for converting two fingerprints into a “biometric template” to be stored in an internationally standardized 2-D barcode which would be printed on the Seafarers’ Identity Document (SID). One basic requisite for the SID’s biometric identification system is “global interoperability,” meaning that the fingerprint information issued in one country can be read correctly by equipment used in another.
The ILO announced in December 2004 that after a six-week test involving 126 volunteer seafarers from 30 countries, two biometric products have already met the requirement of global interoperability and thus can be used to issue the new SIDs.
All countries ratifying Convention No. 185 will be required to issue new SIDs that conform to the requirements specified in the standard known as ILO SID-0002.
According to information received by the ILO more than 50 countries have submitted the Convention for consideration by their national parliaments. Many, including India, Philippines and Indonesia, which have large numbers of seafarers, are making plans for implementation while considering the ratification of the Convention.
Convention No. 185 replaces the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention, 1958 (No.108) that had been ratified by 61 ILO member States, representing more than 60 per cent of the world shipping fleet.
The ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, the abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues.
###
Printer Friendly Page