The International Maritime Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping. The IMO was established following agreement at a UN conference held in Geneva in 1948 and the IMO came into existence ten years later,meeting for the first time on 17 March 1958. Headquartered in London,United Kingdom,IMO currently has 175 Member States and three Associate Members.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations,it is one of the first and oldest specialised agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states:186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva,Switzerland,with around 40 field offices around the world,and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations,of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects.
Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners,and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country,called the flag state. The term is often used pejoratively,and although common,the practice is sometimes regarded as contentious.
International Convention on Standards of Training,Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) sets minimum qualification standards for masters,officers and watch personnel on seagoing merchant ships and large yachts. STCW was adopted in 1978 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference in London,and entered into force in 1984. The Convention was significantly amended in 1995 and 2010 entered into force on 1 January 2012.
The World Maritime University(WMU) in Malmö,Sweden,is a postgraduate maritime university founded within the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),a specialized agency of the United Nations. Established by an IMO Assembly Resolution in 1983,the aim of WMU is to further enhance the objectives and goals of IMO and IMO member States around the world through education,research,and capacity building.
The Convention concerning Wages,Hours of Work on Board Ship and Manning is a convention of the International Labour Organization originally drafted in 1946 and revised conventions in 1949 and 1958,none of which entered into force.
Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention,1958 is an International Labour Organization Convention.
Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised),2003 (C185) is an International Labour Organization Convention.
Seafarers' Welfare Convention,1987 is an International Labour Organization Convention.
Labour Inspection (Seafarers) Convention,1996 is an International Labour Organization Convention.
Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention,1996 is an International Labour Organization Convention.
Seafarers' Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention,1996 is an International Labour Organization Convention.
The International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) is an ecumenical association of 26 Christian organisations,Protestant and Catholic,representing different churches and Christian communities actively engaged in welfare work for people who work at sea,including seafarers,fishers and the families of both. The Association is registered as a charity in the UK and,through its members,operates internationally.
Trade unions in Benin operate in relative freedom,with approximately 75% of the formal sector being unionized. There are,however,concerns expressed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) about the discrepancies between the government's Labour Code and the labour practices outlined by ILO Conventions 87 and 98 - specifically the right of unions to form without government approval,the right of seafarers to organize or strike,and restrictions on strikes.
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention,number 186,established in 2006 as the fourth pillar of international maritime law and embodies "all up-to-date standards of existing international maritime labour Conventions and Recommendations,as well as the fundamental principles to be found in other international labour Conventions". The other pillars are the SOLAS,STCW and MARPOL. The treaties applies to all ships entering the harbours of parties to the treaty (port states),as well as to all ships flying the flag of state party (flag states,as of 2021:over 91 per cent).
The International Federation of Shipmasters' Associations (IFSMA),is the international professional organisation that unites and represents the world's serving Shipmasters.
International labour law is the body of rules spanning public and private international law which concern the rights and duties of employees,employers,trade unions and governments in regulating Work and the workplace. The International Labour Organization and the World Trade Organization have been the main international bodies involved in reforming labour markets. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have indirectly driven changes in labour policy by demanding structural adjustment conditions for receiving loans or grants. Issues regarding Conflict of laws arise,determined by national courts,when people work in more than one country,and supra-national bodies,particularly in the law of the European Union,have a growing body of rules regarding labour rights.
Stephen Cotton is the general secretary of the International Transport Workers’Federation (ITF) –a global union federation of 677 trade unions representing 19.7 million workers in 149 countries in the seafaring,port,road,rail,tourism and aviation sectors. He was elected to the position at the 43rd ITF Congress held in Sofia,Bulgaria in 2014 and reelected at the 44th ITF Congress held in Singapore in 2018.
Kitack Lim is a South Korean maritime official who served as a previous Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization.
The International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is an international NGO and UK registered charity that aims to assists seafarers and their families. ISWAN is the result of a merger between two organisations. These were the International Committee on Seafarers' Welfare (ICSW) and the International Seafarers Assistance Network (ISAN). ICSW was formed in 1973 and ISAN was established in the late 1990s. These two welfare bodies merged in April 2013 to form ISWAN. ISWAN's headquarters are in Croydon,Greater London.
