GENEVA (ILO News) – Government, employer and worker delegates from ILO member States open a two-week international Conference here on Monday 13 September to prepare a new draft maritime labour Convention affecting some 1.2 million seafarers who handle nearly 90 per cent of the world's trade.

The "Preparatory Technical Maritime Conference" is being hosted by the International Labour Office (ILO) and will attempt to prepare a new consolidated draft convention replacing a host of existing labour standards relevant to maritime workers that have been adopted since 1920.

In 2001 the Joint Maritime Commission (JMC) approved a resolution known as the "Geneva Accord" concerning the review maritime labour standards, which was later accepted by the Governing Body of the ILO. The Accord said the maritime industry "requires an international regulatory response of an appropriate kind – global standards applicable to the entire industry".

The final draft of the new Convention will be presented for adoption to the Maritime Session of the International Labour Conference scheduled to take place by the end of 2005 or the beginning of 2006. The priorities of the preparatory process are to produce an instrument that can secure the widest possible acceptability by member States while securing improved working and living conditions for seafarers.

Representatives of ILO member States and maritime workers and employers will speak at the first plenary session to be held on Tuesday, 14 September from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Media who wish to cover the opening plenary can contact the ILO Department of Communication for further information.

For press contacts, only from September 13 to 24, please reach our Department of Communication officers, Luis Cordova (+4122/799-7911), Hans von Rohland (+4122/799-7916), or the secretariat (+4122/799-7912). Also by email to cordova@ilo.org.