At the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI), we’ve spent over a century advocating for the dignity, safety, and welfare of the world’s seafarers. This April, as Director of SCI’s Center for Mariner Advocacy, I had the honor of joining the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) delegation at the Fifth Meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee (STC) of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), in Geneva. The gathering convened governments, shipowners, and representatives of seafarers to examine and enhance the Convention’s Code in response to the changing realities of life at sea. I am pleased to report that this meeting delivered some real “wins” for the mariners we serve. The proposals that were approved are scheduled to go into force December of 2027.
One very noteworthy improvement was the addition of mandatory standards regarding a seafarer’s right to shore leave. The ability to go ashore for a brief time away from ship has been one of the greatest morale boosts for seafarers for as long as seafarers have been going to sea. Unfortunately, today seafarers are all too often denied this basic right. These new standards should help to reverse this trend.
Another major development involves improving the protections around a seafarer’s right to repatriation, the process of getting home when a contract ends, or when a seafarer is stranded or abandoned. For various reasons this most fundamental right is often not timely provided to seafarers. The approved amendments should help reverse this trend and also clarifies a seafarer’s entitlements during the repatriation process.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, SCI fought for seafarers to be recognized as “key workers.” The new amendments state in a non-mandatory guideline that seafarers should be designated as key workers allowing them to travel in connection with their employment, including for shore leave, repatriation, crew change and medical care.
SCI is particularly encouraged by the approved amendments that are focused on preventing and improving responses to shipboard violence and harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying and sexual assault. For far too long environments that have allowed this conduct to occur have been tolerated aboard ship, resulting in seafarers being subjected to this truly unacceptable behavior; often with negative impacts on their mental health and overall well-being. These amendments mandate changes that can start to change these environments and help provide seafarers a psychologically safe place working and living environment aboard ship.
While we applaud these advances, there’s certainly still more work to be done. One noteworthy area is around fatigue. There were two proposals under consideration that were aimed at helping to address the issue of seafarer fatigue, but the group lacked sufficient time to meaningfully engage on them. As an alternative, the group adopted a resolution that requested a meeting be scheduled to look exclusively at the issue of seafarers’ work hours in order to attempt to address the issue of seafarer fatigue. SCI and ICMA will continue to keep an eye on this issue and plan to attend the meeting if it occurs.
This meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee (STC) of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006) made meaningful progress on improving the well-being of seafarers. It reflects what SCI knows about seafarers: that they are resilient, committed professionals, deserving of our collective respect and appreciation. When international bodies understand this fact as we do, then real change is possible. To the seafarers we serve, your voices were heard in Geneva. But our work continues. At SCI’s Center for Mariner Advocacy, we remain steadfast in our mission to serve, defend, and walk alongside the mariners who power our global economy.
Phil Schifflin, Esq. is Director at the Center for Mariner Advocacy at Seamen’s Church Institute.
source: www.maritime-executive.com
