How to work with the ITF

Working with the ITF on HREDD in maritime shipping follows four stages, each building on the last. 

It begins with establishing what standards apply and which ships actually carry your goods, moves to an evidence-based assessment of the risks aboard them, opens a structured dialogue on what those risks reveal about your own purchasing and contracting practices; and ends with remedy where harm is found, and continuous monitoring so that the process does not stop at a single snapshot.

1. INTRODUCTION TO MARITIME HREDD Company Meet the ITF to discuss worker-centred HREDD across your maritime shipping supply chains Agree shared principles and approaches — including recognition that freedom of association and collective bargaining are enabling rights that make decent work possible

ITF Sets out the applicable human rights and labour standards Communicates the risks to seafarers' rights and what HREDD requires Advises how to approach transport suppliers for the data you need

2. ITF RIGHTSCHECK Company Request a confidential ITF RightsCheck Agree to share information on the ships carrying cargo – lists, routes and IMO numbers — over a specified period

ITF Receives ship-specific IMO registration numbers and related data in confidence Combines shipping data with ITF agreement and inspection data Assesses the human rights risks to seafarers on those vessels

3. DIALOGUE ON RISKS AND MITIGATION Company Dialogue with the ITF on risks identified in RightsCheck and recommended actions Evaluate purchasing, tender and supplier policies and supplier agreements

ITF Present RightsCheck findings – risks identified and their root causes Advises on gaps in existing policies to ensure management systems and accountability are clearly defined

4. REMEDY à ITF COOPERATION AGREEMENT Company Commitment to provide or cooperate in remediation of human rights abuses identified in the ITF RightsCheck Integrate recommendations on risk mitigation into purchasing, tender and supplier policies and supplier agreements Undertake regular ITF RightsChecks, with the option to extend them to other transport sectors Deepen cooperation through an ITF Cooperation Agreement

ITF Assist with remediating identified harms through the ITF Inspectorate, ITF Seafarers’ Support, affiliated unions and other available mechanisms Review revised policies to ensure identified risks and root causes are addressed Conduct regular RightsChecks so that risk assessment is continuous Provides the worker-led stakeholder engagement that HREDD requires, strengthening supply chain oversight and delivering real improvements

IMPLEMENTING HREDD IN PRACTICE 

Based on the findings of an ITF RightsCheck companies can work with the ITF to take actions to prevent and mitigate risks in their supply chains. Three examples:

Choose to move cargo responsibly

Engage with and build relationships with charterers, freight forwarders and logistics providers – who commit to moving cargo only on ships with an ITF Agreement, or national flag ships with an ITF-approved national collective bargaining agreement. 

Write it into contracts

A commitment that isn't contractual isn't a commitment. Require shipping and logistics providers to attest to having ITF Agreements on their ships, make it a term in agreements, and require it to cascade to every subcontractor beneath them. 

Make information accessible

An agreement a seafarer has never seen cannot protect them. Require charterers to ensure seafarers know their rights and that the ITF Agreement covering the ship is available to the crew on board, and available when ITF inspectors come aboard. 

For the full detail, including guidance on crew management and addressing root causes in pricing and tender models, see the ITF's Human Rights Due Diligence Guidance on respecting the human rights of seafarers in Supply Chains.