— The Council of American Master Mariners, Inc. —
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06-06: Seafarers Biometric ID Cards
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06-06
Seafarers Biometric ID Cards
ILO Convention 185
The International Labor Organization (ILO) of the United Nations announced nearly a year ago that a biometric seafarers identity document (SID) is ready to be placed in use. The SID card, developed by delegations representing labor, management and governments, reflects a consensus regarding the type of information it is appropriate to record on an identity card.
CAMM voices strong support for the adoption of this Convention by the United States who to date have chosen not to ratify due to (in part) differences of opinion on precisely what information is to be stored on the cards. The US has taken its own approach in creating the Mariner Administrative Card MAC with a readable and writable chip that could contain a variety of information about the seaman including medical, professional, financial, personal, and other sensitive information opening the potential for misuse and raising a host of privacy issues.
Many distinguished colleagues certainly recall the days of Discharge Books which in time were replaced by todays individual discharges with the primary reason being to restrict access to a seamans personal history from the Master, employer or other third party. It appears that the US may have forgotten this old lesson.
This lack of consensus in such an elemental security tool as a seafarers ID card -a full four years after the events of 9/11- continues to cause serious consequences for seaman worldwide. One unfortunate side effect has been the cancellation of crew list visas by the US and non-acceptance of seafarer identity cards in lieu of individual visas. This effectively restricts many foreign seamen to ships berthed in the US and adversely affects US seaman in foreign ports due to reactionary quid pro quo policies.
A universally accepted seafarers biometric identity card is nothing more (or less) than what one can consider a seamans passport updated with the latest technology for fraud protection. One must ask how the US reconciles itself to the fact that they are satisfied with the minimal basic information that a US passport conveys for citizens but are not accepting of the same type of information in a SID card for such a small and benign assembly of US mariners.
IFSMA has voiced objections to the path that this project has taken and has issued their own draft proposal modeled on the 1991 IMO guidelines on oil pollution. The document contains specific and realistic language on how the fair treatment of seafarers could be accomplished and is a fair, balance and practical compromise between the varying interests of the three parties.CAMM is in strong support of the US adoption of ILO Convention 185 for Seafarers Biometric ID cards and their international recognition worldwide.