CONVENTION No. 163 Convention concerning Seafarers' Welfare at Seaand in Port
CONVENTION No. 163 Convention concerning Seafarers' Welfare at Seaand in Port
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The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventy-fourth Session
on 24 September 1987, and
Recalling the provisions of the Seamen's Welfare in Ports
Recommendation, 1936, and the Seafarers' Welfare Recommendation, 1970, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to
seafarers' welfare at sea and in port which is the second item on the
agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an
international Convention, adopts this eighth day of October of the year
one thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven the following Convention which
may be cited as the Seafarers' Welfare Convention, 1987:
Article 1
1. For the purposes of this Convention
(a) the term "seafarer" means any person who is employed in any
capacity on board a seagoing ship, whether publicly or privately owned,
other than a ship of war;
(b) the term "welfare facilities and services" means welfare,
cultural, recreational and information facilities and services.
2. Each Member shall determine by national laws or regulations, after
consultation with the representative organizations of shipowners and
seafarers, which ships registered in its territory are to be regarded as
seagoing ships for the purpose of the provisions of this Convention
relating to welfare facilities and services on board ship.
3. To the extent it deems practicable, after consultation with the
representative organizations of fishing vessel owners and fishermen, the
competent authority shall apply the provisions of this Convention to
commercial maritime fishing.
Article 2
1. Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to
ensure that adequate welfare facilities and services are provided for
seafarers both in port and on board ship.
2. Each Member shall ensure that the necessary arrangements are made
for financing the welfare facilities and services provided in accordance
with the provisions of this Convention.
Article 3
1. Each Member undertakes to ensure that welfare facilities and
services are provided in appropriate ports of the country for all
seafarers, irrespective of nationality, race, colour, sex, religion,
political opinion or social origin and irrespective of the State in which
the ship on which they are employed is registered.
2. Each Member shall determine, after consultation with the
representative organizations of shipowners and seafarers, which ports are
to be regarded as appropriate for the purposes of this Article.
Article 4
Each Member undertakes to ensure that the welfare facilities and
services on every seagoing ship, whether publicly or privately owned,
which is registered in its territory, are provided for the benefit of all
seafarers on board.
Article 5
Welfare facilities and services shall be reviewed frequently to ensure
that they are appropriate in the light of changes in the needs of
seafarers resulting from technical, operational and other developments in
the shipping industry.
Article 6
Each Member undertakes
(a) to co-operate with other Members with a view to ensuring the
application of this Convention; and
(b) to ensure co-operation between the parties engaged and
interested in promoting the welfare of seafarers at sea and in port.
Article 7
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to
the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the
International Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registered
with the Director-General.
2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the
ratifications of two Members have been registered with the
Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member
twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been
registered.
Article 9
1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after
the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first
comes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of the
International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation shall not
take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not,
within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years
mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation
provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten
years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of
each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.
Article 10
1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall
notify all Members of the International Labour Organization of the
registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by
the Members of the Organization.
2. When notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration
of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall
draw the attention of the Members of the Organization to the date upon
which the Convention will come into force.
Article 11
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall
communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for
registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United
Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation
registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding
Articles.
Article 12
At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a
report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the
desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of
its revision in whole or in part.
Article 13
1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this
Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise
provides
(a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention
shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention,
notwithstanding the provisions of Article 9 above, if and when the new
revising Convention shall have come into force;
(b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into
force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the
Members.
2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual
form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not
ratified the revising Convention.
Article 14
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are
equally authoritative.
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