The International Labour Organisation is urging Ghana and other coastal countries in the West African Subregion to sign and ratify ILO conventions on labour in order to deal with abuses on the sea.

The BBC, about two weeks ago, reported a mixture of widespread corruption, human rights abuses, and deaths that have taken a toll on the mental health of Ghanaian workers on foreign vessels in Ghana.

In the report, some of the fisheries observers deployed by the government to monitor the illegalities on the sea told the BBC that some of their colleagues were thrown into the sea, among other human rights abuses.

The BBC further reported that one former observer, who has since left Ghana, revealed that he was once called to the office of a high-ranking official within the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development after he reported illegal practices at sea.

According to the former observer, the official asked him to present the evidence and then proceeded to delete it from his phone. But he had the evidence backed up on a laptop and threatened to post it on social media.

The former observer further indicated that he started receiving threats, and at one point he was so nervous that he would not sleep at his own house because people knew where he lived and he was worried about being attacked or worse.

At the ongoing West African Ministers of Fisheries Conference in Accra under the auspices of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), the matter of forced labour and abuses of workers onboard fishing vessels came up strongly.

The National Coordinator of the International Labour Organization, Kwame Mensah, urged Ghana and the other 11 coastal countries within the West African sub-region to sign and ratify the ILO conventions on forced labour.

Convention 188 of the ILO applies to all fishermen working on fishing vessels of any size, with more prescriptive standards for vessels over 24 meters in length or operating on longer voyages, three days or more.

The convention also entitles all fishermen to written terms and conditions of employment (a Fisherman’s Work Agreement), decent accommodation and food, medical care, regulated working time, repatriation, social protection, and health and safety on board.

It also provides minimum standards relating to recruitment and placement and includes a mandatory requirement to have a certificate of medical fitness to work onboard a fishing vessel.

Mr Kwame Mensah intimated that the ILO was pushing and encouraging countries to find solutions that are sustainable

He stated that the ILO was also happy that countries within the FCWC subregion are talking about the labour issues in the fisheries sector and pledging support to each other.

“They are talking about pushing for the ratification of this convention at the national level to have a tripartite platform where all the relevant stakeholders—government, employers, labour experts, etc.—come to the table where there will be fair negotiations and transparency so that while thinking about businesses, we are also promoting healthy human rights and decent work,” he stated.

The technical advisor to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Samuel Quartey, stated in response that Ghana is working to ratify the convention.

He indicated that the Ghana Maritime Authority has taken the lead towards the conditions onboard the fishing vessels are modified to conform to a decent working environment.

“And we find many trawlers in port, not because they have not met the fisheries conditions but because the Ghana Maritime Authority has not cleared them yet." "We will rely on them to clear such vessels before we grant them permission,” he shared.

He further revealed that early this year, even though the convention has not been ratified, they are working on some acceptable conditions, where they will be looking at their wages, hospitals etc.

“We are implementing some of the things in the convention already, even though we have not ratified it." We are working assiduously to ratify the convention to ensure that acceptable standards of operations are done.”