Strengthening security on the high seas and in world ports: ILO Convention on seafarers’ ID card gains new momentum

A growing number of countries have already ratified the ILO's Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention No.185 adopted in 2003 or will do so in the near future. The international Convention came into force in February 2005 and creates the first globally applicable system of biometric identification for secure identity documents for the estimated 1.2 million seafarers in the world. The Convention requires all ILO member States to recognize the Seafarer Identity Document (SID) thus facilitating the seafarers’ admission to their territories for temporary shore leave without visas.

The new identity document for seafarers allows for the use of a biometric template to turn two fingerprints of a seafarer into an internationally standardized bar code on the document. The Indonesian government will soon issue the first new biometric identity cards for more than 120,000 Indonesian seafarers working on vessels flying both Indonesian and foreign flags.