John Cook of Lesia, the employment services company, is drawing attention to the fact that ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, (MLC 2006) has moved a step closer recently with confirmation that Benin has now ratified the convention. This brings the total number of ratifications to 13. The ILO has also confirmed that a further 3 members, Denmark, Gabon and Singapore, have submitted their instrument of ratification and the ILO is waiting for further information under Title 4 of the convention before verifying ratification for these three members.
Once these three members’ ratifications have been accepted it will bring the total number of ratifications to 16.
A number of other ILO members have also indicated that they intend to ratify the convention this year, so it looks possible that the convention will be ratified during the course of this year or at the latest early in 2012.
The Red Ensign group are reliant on the UK ratifying the convention, as only the UK is a member of the ILO.
The UK needs to be one of the first 30 countries to ratify the convention in order to avoid all the members of the Red Ensign group being put at a disadvantage once the MLC 2006 enters into force.