[240514.EN.SEA] Maritime Labour Convention Ratification To Complete This Year

KUTA - Directorate General of Sea Transportation expects the ratification of Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) to complete this year so that Indonesian sailors can still do their job.

Director of Seafarers and Shipping at Directorate General of Sea Transportation Yan Riswandi said the government has prepared a draft for seafarers.

“It does not matter whether it should be discussed by the current House or the new House of Representatives. Discussion about this issue is not like other fields that need a long process,” he said during Regional Workshop On The 2011 Biofouling Guidelines in Kuta, Badung, Tuesday (5/20/2014).

The MLC has been fully implemented as of August 20, 2013. It is one of the regulation pillars in global shipping industry.

It is estimated that the number of Indonesian seafarers reached 500,000 people. Based on data from Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI), there are only 70,000 seafarers who sail out of the country.

According to Yan, Ministry of Transportation worries that foreign countries will be reluctant to use Indonesian seafarers since there is still no ratification over the MLC.

The Ministry, he added, has been trying to encourage the ratification to be done soon.

For example, it proposes an immediate ratification in the form of a presidential decree.

Based on a meeting in April, however, it agreed that the ratification should be in the form of law. This is why the preparation is still running until this moment.

He said the law is adjusted with international mechanism, which requires ratification in the form of legislation for matters relating to human rights.

Source : Bisnis Indonesia, 20.05.14.