The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ratify seafarers' identity document, India urged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 15, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ratify seafarers' identity document, India urged

Staff Reporter

Seamen's welfare seminar turns spotlight on problems of sailors

CHENNAI: India has been urged to ratify the revised international identity document for seafarers by Jean-Yves Legouas, a senior maritime specialist with the International Labour Organisation.

At the Seafarers' Welfare Seminar inaugurated here on Monday, Mr. Legouas said the seafarers' identity documents were revised after the September 2001 twin tower attack.

He said he hoped that India with so many seafarers would ratify the convention adopted by ILO in 2003.

100 participants

The seminar, which is on till Wednesday at the GRT Convention Centre, has more than 100 participants from 16 countries. Organised by the International Committee on Seafarers' Welfare, the event put the spotlight on problems faced by seafarers from South Asia.

Mr. Legouas said that ILO was aiming to put together a system that would protect seafarers from abandonment and neglect by shipping companies and ship owners. Chairman and managing director of the Shipping Corporation of India S. Hajara said seafarers were the backbone of maritime economy, which in turn drives the world economy.

So it was important to bring down the number of accidents, 80 per cent of them caused by human error.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu