The Joint ILO/IMO/Basel Convention Working Group on Ship Scrapping was established by decisions of the pertinent governing bodies of the three organisations, to

• Consider the work programmes of three organizations on the issue of ship scrapping in order to avoid duplication of work and overlapping of responsibilities and competencies between the three organizations, and identify further needs;
• Facilitate the exchange of views between the three organizations in order to ensure a coordinated approach to all relevant aspects of ship scrapping;
• Undertake an examination of the guidelines produced by the three organisations relating to ship scrapping with a view to identifying any possible gaps, overlaps, or ambiguities;
• The Joint Working Group is also expected to consider mechanisms to promote jointly the implementation of the relevant guidelines on ship scrapping, as well as to monitor progress of any jointly organized technical cooperation activities.

The Joint Working Group is mandated to make recommendations on such matters to the bodies of IMO, ILO and the Basel Convention, as appropriate.

The first meeting of the Joint Working Group was held at IMO Headquarters in London from 15 to 17 February 2005. The report and documents of the meeting may be accessed here. Each organization is represented by members nominated by the pertinent body of each organization. Thus, for the first meeting, the IMO and the Basel Convention were represented by five States each; and the ILO by five worker representatives and five employer representatives. The Basel Convention representatives were China, The Gambia, Russia, Jamaica and the United Kingdom. These representatives were nominated by the Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties and were chosen on the basis of one State representing each of the five United Nations regional groupings. The first meeting was also open to participation by other States and non-governmental organizations as observers.

The second session of the Joint Working Group will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva, from 12 to 14 December 2005.