A Study on Regulations of Seafarers’ Employment Agreements in Vietnam’s Legal System with a Comparative Approach

The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006) was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a global successful achievement in protecting the human rights of seafarers. Regulations in respect of the ‘Seafarers' employment agreements’, are considered ‘the heart’ of the MLC, 2006 to ensure decent working and living conditions for seafarers. Nonetheless, incorporating regulations of these regulations into the national legal systems of numerous State Members does not completely meet the requirements of the MLC, 2006, especially in developing countries with an insignificant number of seafarers like Vietnam. With the applied legal research, comparative legal, and statistic descriptive methods, the main aim of this article is to investigate the gaps in Vietnam's legal system concerning the regulations of the seafarers' employment agreements in comparison with requirements of the MLC, 2006, make reference to the Seafarers Act of Republic of Korea and suggest measures to close the gaps in Vietnam's legal documents.