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Seamen's Articles of Agreement Convention, 1926 (No. 22) - Iraq (RATIFICATION: 1966)

Articles 3 to 14. Seafarer’s employment agreement. The Committee has been requesting the Government for a number of years to specify the laws and regulations implementing the various provisions of the Convention. The Government has previously referred to the Maritime Civil Service Act No. 201 of 1975 and to the Labour Code (Act No. 71 of 1987) as being the two enactments that give effect to the requirements of the Convention. The Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that these two texts do not give effect, or give effect only partially, to important provisions of the Convention such as Articles 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9. In view of the sparse and fragmented information provided by the Government in consecutive reports, the Committee is not in a position to verify the state of national law and practice with respect to seafarers’ employment agreements. The Committee accordingly asks the Government to clarify whether the Maritime Civil Service Act of 1975 is still in effect, which would imply that seafarers continue to enjoy the status of public employees engaged on a permanent basis. It also asks the Government to present a detailed report indicating the specific legal provisions that ensure compliance with the terms of each Article of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee requests the Government to provide up-to-date information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for instance, statistical data on the number of seafarers, both nationals and non-nationals, currently employed on board Iraqi-flagged vessels, any standard form of crew agreement and discharge document currently in use, sample copies of seafarers’ employment agreements, and relevant extracts from inspection reports showing any infringements of the relevant legislation.

Finally, the Committee recalls that Convention No. 22, as well as 36 other international maritime labour Conventions, is revised by the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006). Most of the provisions of this Convention have been incorporated without any significant changes in Regulation 2.1 and the corresponding Code of the MLC, 2006, and therefore ensuring compliance with Convention No. 22 would facilitate compliance with the respective provisions of the MLC, 2006. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed on any steps taken or envisaged for the ratification and effective implementation of the MLC, 2006.