In a landmark ruling the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found that governments have breached seafarers’ rights and failed to comply with several provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 during the Covid-19 pandemic, including Article I(2) on the duty to cooperate.
The UN agency has called on states to recognise seafarers as key workers “without delay”.
In the first ruling of its kind, the committee of 20 jurists found that governments have failed abjectly to protect the minimum standards for the protection of seafarers’ rights, as set out in international law under the MLC. This includes basic rights such as access to healthcare, repatriation, annual leave and shore leave.
