Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Article 4 of the Convention. Form and content of the seafarer’s identity document. Further to its previous comment, the Committee requests the Government to provide a specimen (not a photocopy) of the seamen’s identification booklet currently in use.

Article 5(2). Readmission. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there exists no legislative provision giving effect to this requirement of the Convention. Recalling that under the Convention, the seafarer’s identity document is the sole document needed for the seafarer to enter the territory of another State party to the Convention and to return to the issuing State even after expiry, the Committee requests the Government to indicate by what means it is facilitating the entry into the country of a seafarer who holds an expired Ukrainian seafarer’s identity document.

Finally, the Committee takes this opportunity to recall that the Convention has been revised by the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185), which was adopted by the ILO to enhance port and border security while developing a more secure and globally uniform seafarers’ identity document. In fact, Convention No. 185 complements actions taken within the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through the adoption of the International Ship and Port-facility Security Code (ISPS), and it sets out basic parameters regarding the content and form of the documents, and provides technical guidance in the annexes in order to ensure that Members may easily adapt their systems while taking national circumstances into account. In this respect, the Committee wishes to refer to the summary of consensus achieved at the consultative meeting on Convention No. 185, held in Geneva on
23–24 September 2010, according to which “further ratifications and recognition of the seafarers’ identity document (SID) to facilitate shore leave are urgently needed, especially among port States” (see CSID/C.185/2010/4, p. 17). The Committee therefore invites the Government to consider the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 185 in the near future and to keep the Office informed of any decisions taken in this respect.