Seafarers Rights International has welcomed the recognition of seafarers as ‘key workers’ who will be afforded protection in the event of a marine casualty or in situations where they may be detained in connection with alleged crimes.
The latest amendments to standards of the International Labour Organization and International Maritime Organization Guidelines on Fair Treatment of Seafarers were adopted during the fifth meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) last week. International Transport Federation’s Seafarers’ Section Vice Chair, Mark Dickinson led the negotiations.
SRI CEO, Deirdre Fitzpatrick, said it was noteworthy that among the amendments adopted was the designation and recognition of seafarers as key workers.
According to the standard, this is “to facilitate their safe movement when travelling in connection with their employment or work, including, but not limited to, access to shore leave, repatriation, crew changes and medical care ashore”.
Fitzpatrick said this was a significant win.
“SRI has long advocated for seafarers to be designated as key workers and in the end it was a tribute to tripartism that an amendment could be achieved. States now must meaningfully implement and enforce this historic amendment,” she said.
Another significant win for seafarers and shipowners was the inclusion in a mandatory Standard of the Code of the two sets of ILO/IMO Guidelines on Fair Treatment of Seafarers in the event of a marine casualty or detention of seafarers in connection with alleged crimes.
“This has been a hot topic for over 20 years and now it can be hoped that seafarers who find themselves in a nightmare situation of investigation, detention or criminal charges in connection with their professional work will be able to expose any injustices that they face,” said Fitzpatrick. “For too long this subject has been talked about without any meaningful accountability to the seafarers for any unfair treatment.”
Out of the 16 proposed amendments before the Committee, others that were adopted included better protection around repatriation, shore leave, medical care, recruitment and placement, health and safety protection and the elimination of violence and harassment.
The SRI said further work was needed to secure better implementation and enforcement of the convention.
In a worldwide study conducted by SRI, research showed that the implementation and enforcement of the MLC around the world was only about 65% effective.
“The MLC is not yet being strictly and evenly enforced around the world. The global playing field is not yet level,” said Fitzpatrick.
