Ilo cleopatra d h conference on ship recycling (7 9 april 2013) af

International Conference on Ship Recycling World Maritime University - Malmo (Sweden) (7-9 April 2013) Ship Recycling: An ILO Perspective Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry Director International Labour Standards Department I am very pleased to have the opportunity to bring greetings on behalf of Mr Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and to have the opportunity to contribute to the opening session of this important international conference on ship recycling. I am especially pleased to have an opportunity to spend time again at the World Maritime University – WMU. WMU plays an important role, in promoting strategic research, education and capacity building in the maritime sector in general. In carrying out this work, including hosting important conferences such as this one, the WMU, and the IMO, are strengthening collaboration in areas of work where there are common interests and intersecting competencies with the activities of ILO and UNEP and other relevant organizations and actors.

What are the interests of the ILO in ship recycling and the maritime sector?

The ILO interests are central to the concern of this Conference, which I would summarize as identifying and promoting ways to ensure that the operations related to the dismantling of ships and the recycling of materials are carried out in a way that does not harm the people engaged in carrying out this work and also does not harm the environment. In addition there is a concern for what I would call global fairness or equity – that is – there is a need to ensure that responsibility is shared among all actors in this industry which, although physically based in a few countries, is of benefit to all countries with a maritime interest. The “Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009” – the Hong Kong Convention – is one step forward to help achieve the last goal in particular and, as its title suggests, is also aimed at helping to address the other concerns. As the structure for this Conference indicates this involves questions of law and policy, human factors, economics and, of course, environmental and technical questions. These aspects must all be coordinated to ensure that these goals and the underlying problem regarding the disposal, or perhaps I should say the transformation, of old ships that can no longer be used in the industry, is addressed.

As you may be aware the ILO was the earliest of the United Nations (UN) specialized organizations and in fact it predates the establishment of UN in the 1940s. The ILO was established in 1919 and is based on the belief of its founding members that “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice” and that where “conditions of labor exist involving such injustice … then there is an urgent need for improvement.” 1 Specific issues identified in 1919 that still remain essential today include conditions of work such as minimum hours of rest and, relevant to this conference, the protection of the workers against sickness, disease and injury arising out of employment

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Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, Preamble.

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and well as the need for specific protection of children, young persons and women. In more contemporary language, this is summed up simply as the right of every person to “decent work”. It is also notable that the ILO is unique among UN organizations because of its tripartite structure and its commitment to the promotion of tripartism –sometimes called social dialogue – at the national level. This means that the ILO brings together, as voting partners, representatives of employers, workers and governments from its member countries annually to specifically address decent work concerns for all sectors. In other words, the workers and employers – the people that are most affected by, and most informed about, issues – and the regulators, the governments, must all meet to discuss and agree on issues and solutions. One of the very important activities carried out by the Members of the ILO is to develop and adopt international legal standards for work in all sectors. The International Labour Office then works with Members to promote and effectively implement these standards at the national level. To date the ILO has adopted 189 Conventions, 5 Protocols to Conventions and 202 Recommendations combined with an extensive body of guidelines and codes and other instruments. A large number 2 of these are specifically concerned with securing safety and health in the workplace or what we call occupational safety and health (OSH). My colleague at the ILO office in Geneva, David Seligson, will be speak to you later today about the details of these instruments. However a key point is that, even though the Hong Kong Convention with its more comprehensive global regulatory approach is not in force, and may not be for some time, there are many international labour standards on OSH and other issues that in most cases already apply to all workers, including those involved in the work once called ship-breaking but now called ship recycling. 3 In fact in 2003 ILO guidelines were adopted unanimously by an Interregional Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Safety and Health in Shipbreaking for Selected Asian Countries and Turkey held in Thailand. 4 This was undertaken under my responsibility. These Guidelines are specifically concerned with and involved the countries where most of the world’s ship recycling is carried out. These Guidelines have as their objective the protection of workers from workplace hazards and the elimination and control of work related injuries and diseases, ill health, and incidents and are intended to assist in the improved management of occupational safety and health issues in or about the workplace.

The ILO also actively participated in the important step by the IMO and the maritime industry to take more responsibility, through an international convention, at the global level for ship disposal through what is a “cradle to grave and beyond”, if we consider recycling, as an approach that looks at the entire life of the ship including a focus on the facilities for dismantling and recycling ships. It starts with the creation of the ship and places responsibilities on those along the chain of ownership of the ship as it exists in the ocean domain to its final end on land. The work to develop the Hong Kong Convention and the on-going work by the tripartite Joint Working Group, involving the IMO, the ILO and the Basel Convention Secretariat, to develop on a collaborative basis, texts and information for detailed guidelines to meet the concerns of all three organizations and their

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The ILO has adopted more than 40 standards specifically dealing with occupational safety and health, as well as over 40 Codes of Practice. Nearly half of ILO instruments deal directly or indirectly with occupational safety and health issues.

See: http://www.ilo.org/global/standards/subjects-covered-by-international-labourstandards/occupational-safety-and-health/lang--en/index.htm> 3

To take more account of environmental considerations and also the reality of the industry and what happens to the materials from these ships.

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Adopted by the ILO Governing Body at its 289 session in March 2004. Available at: <http://www.ilo.org/safework/info/standards-and-instruments/codes/WCMS_107689/lang--en/ index.htm>

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constituents is, of course, a challenge. However, I think this is also a very productive exchange. In fact I will take this opportunity to suggest that it would be timely to convene a meeting of the Joint Working Group. The last meeting was nearly 5 years ago and it would be important to meet again to consider any changes in conditions “on the ground” in this sector.

As the Director of the ILO’s International Standards Department with the responsibility for helping to ensure national implementation of the 189 Conventions that I mentioned I am very aware of, and regularly deal with, problems of national implementation. One of the most important concerns arises where UN organizations adopt overlapping instruments that have different or even worse, conflicting, requirements. If the obligations differ or conflict in these instruments this can be a major barrier to countries wanting to move to ratification. I think I can say that it was a central concern for the ILO and, I believe, for the IMO, in the development of the Hong Kong Convention and also in other maritime instruments 5 that this problem must be avoided as much as possible. Many of the concerns relating to OSH and standards for working conditions in these facilities are already addressed by ILO instruments. For this reason, as result of the history of cooperation between the ILO and IMO, there are specific cross references to ILO instruments in both the preamble and, importantly, in the more detailed or technical parts of the Hong Kong Convention. 6 With the adoption by the international community of the Hong Kong Convention in 2009, all UN agencies concerned have a shared interest in seeing that it enters into force as soon as possible and that it is effectively implemented by flag States and importantly also

by States where the recycling operations are carried out to ensure that conditions in this industry are safe and protect the health and safety of workers and the environment. I look forward to hearing your views in this conference as to how to move forward to ensure that this important objective can be achieved.

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For example the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 and the recent “Manila amendments” to the STCW. 6

See for example the HK Convention, Preamble and Regulations 3, 22 and 23.

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