Friday, December 03, 2004
[IWS] ILO: BIOMETRIC ID for SEAFARERS ready NEW ILO CONVENTION in force FEBRUARY 2005 [3 December 2004]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Biometric ID for seafarers ready to be issued New ILO Convention for maritime workers will come into force in February [3 December 2004]
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/index.htm
[This will appear at the above URL soon]
See convention -- C185 Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003:
www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C185
GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) today
announced that the new biometric system for issuing secure identity
documents to the world's 1.2 million seafarers is ready for
implementation, following successful testing of products that met the
challenging requirement of "global interoperability" for such documents.
The new system, mandated under the Seafarers' Identity Documents
Convention, 2003 (No. 185)*/ adopted by the Government, Employer and
Worker delegates to the International Labour Conference in June 2003,
represents a comprehensive response to the need for greater global
security while guaranteeing the rights of workers in the global shipping
fleet, which handles 90 percent of world trade.
Convention No. 185 is the first international binding instrument for an
identification system. Its biometric feature, the fingerprint, is based
upon "global interoperability", meaning that it must be possible for the
fingerprint information on the Seafarer Identity Document (SID) issued
in one country to be read correctly by equipment used in another.
To enable this, the ILO Governing Body adopted in March 2004 a single
standard with specifications to be followed in national systems and
products for generating the biometric representation of fingerprints on
the SID, and for verifying that the seafarer's fingerprint corresponds
to the fingerprint on the SID.
With the cooperation of organizations representing seafarers and
shipowners, the ILO has just completed a six-week test involving 126
volunteer seafarers on the M.V. Crystal Harmony, a vessel operated by
Crystal Cruises. The seafarers included men and women from 30 countries
and covered a broad distribution of ages and a diverse set of seafaring
job categories.
The testing exercise involved seven biometric products submitted by
various manufacturers. The ILO has found that two of them met the
requirement of global interoperability.
"This announcement paves the way for countries to start issuing the
secure identity documents," says Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of
the Standards Department of the ILO. "We are expecting that future
testing will allow us to bring other providers to the list of products
that meet the requirements and that can be used by countries to issue
the new identification cards."
Convention No. 185 was adopted to replace the Seafarers' Identity
Documents Convention No. 108 (1958), which has been ratified by 61 ILO
Member States representing 60.7 per cent of the world's fleet.
The new instrument will come into force in February 2005 following
early ratification by France, Jordan and Nigeria. Several other
countries have already started the process to complete ratification,
according to information provided to the ILO. Among these are the
Philippines, Indonesia and India, countries that provide the largest
number of sea-going maritime personnel.
"Ensuring the security of seafarers and the ships they work on is
crucial," says Ms. Doumbia-Henry.
For more information please visit the ILO website at
www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors/mariti.htm
___________
*/ C185 Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003:
www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C185
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Biometric ID for seafarers ready to be issued New ILO Convention for maritime workers will come into force in February [3 December 2004]
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/index.htm
[This will appear at the above URL soon]
See convention -- C185 Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003:
www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C185
GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) today
announced that the new biometric system for issuing secure identity
documents to the world's 1.2 million seafarers is ready for
implementation, following successful testing of products that met the
challenging requirement of "global interoperability" for such documents.
The new system, mandated under the Seafarers' Identity Documents
Convention, 2003 (No. 185)*/ adopted by the Government, Employer and
Worker delegates to the International Labour Conference in June 2003,
represents a comprehensive response to the need for greater global
security while guaranteeing the rights of workers in the global shipping
fleet, which handles 90 percent of world trade.
Convention No. 185 is the first international binding instrument for an
identification system. Its biometric feature, the fingerprint, is based
upon "global interoperability", meaning that it must be possible for the
fingerprint information on the Seafarer Identity Document (SID) issued
in one country to be read correctly by equipment used in another.
To enable this, the ILO Governing Body adopted in March 2004 a single
standard with specifications to be followed in national systems and
products for generating the biometric representation of fingerprints on
the SID, and for verifying that the seafarer's fingerprint corresponds
to the fingerprint on the SID.
With the cooperation of organizations representing seafarers and
shipowners, the ILO has just completed a six-week test involving 126
volunteer seafarers on the M.V. Crystal Harmony, a vessel operated by
Crystal Cruises. The seafarers included men and women from 30 countries
and covered a broad distribution of ages and a diverse set of seafaring
job categories.
The testing exercise involved seven biometric products submitted by
various manufacturers. The ILO has found that two of them met the
requirement of global interoperability.
"This announcement paves the way for countries to start issuing the
secure identity documents," says Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of
the Standards Department of the ILO. "We are expecting that future
testing will allow us to bring other providers to the list of products
that meet the requirements and that can be used by countries to issue
the new identification cards."
Convention No. 185 was adopted to replace the Seafarers' Identity
Documents Convention No. 108 (1958), which has been ratified by 61 ILO
Member States representing 60.7 per cent of the world's fleet.
The new instrument will come into force in February 2005 following
early ratification by France, Jordan and Nigeria. Several other
countries have already started the process to complete ratification,
according to information provided to the ILO. Among these are the
Philippines, Indonesia and India, countries that provide the largest
number of sea-going maritime personnel.
"Ensuring the security of seafarers and the ships they work on is
crucial," says Ms. Doumbia-Henry.
For more information please visit the ILO website at
www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors/mariti.htm
___________
*/
www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C185
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 6:47 AM
