Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003, as amended (No. 185) - Vanuatu (Ratification: 2006)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not submitted a report on the application of the Convention for the sixth consecutive year following the entry into force for Vanuatu of the 2016 amendments to the Annexes of the Convention. The Committee recalls that these amendments aim at aligning the technical requirements of the Convention with the latest standards adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with respect to the technology for seafarers’ identity documents (SIDs) provided for in the Convention. In particular, they intend to change the biometric template in SIDs from a fingerprint template in a two-dimensional barcode to a facial image stored in a contactless chip as required by ICAO Document 9303. The Committee requests the Government to adopt in the near future the necessary measures to give full effect to all the provisions of the Convention, as amended. It requests the Government to provide detailed information on such measures, including a copy of the applicable national provisions. The Committee also requests the Government to supply a specimen of a SID compliant with the Convention as soon as it becomes available. The Committee reminds the Government of the possibility to avail itself of the Office technical assistance.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2024.]