Human Rights at Sea published the first of a series of case studies on the families of Indian seafarers that are still abandoned for more than 33 months, offshore the UAE. HRAS’s latest publication ‘Abandonment. A Pattern of Human Rights Abuse’ aims to alert the public’s awareness of the consequences to those who suffer, including the family members left behind.
HRAS’s investigative team met with Mr. Prabakaran in Mumbai, the brother in law of Captain Ayyappan Swaminathan, Master of the MV Azraqmoiah for the last 25 months, who personally commented on behalf of the family to Human Rights at Sea.
Mr Prabakaran noted
It is a nightmare and mental harassment for him and his crew. Family support is ongoing, but there are limits for everyone.
The testimony, corroborated and authorized by Swaminathan, focuses to the battle of remaining mentally strong for his crew and family, while in the meantime he leads his team and coordinates other crews in the surrounding abandoned vessels.
The abandoned master’s wife commented
I just want him home. I want his safety, and I want him back.
Generally, Human Rights at Sea gave an insight of the abandonment of 40 seafarers in the UAE in December 2018. The conditions remain harsh, and the seafarers suffer from physical and mental health issues.
In the meantime, Elizabeth Mavropoulou, Charity Administrator & Programme Manager at HRAS has already commented in the existent situation concerning the abandonment of the seafarers, supporting that by making the incident public, HRAS has been contacted by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) while ITF, the ILO and IMO, who seem interested in this issue.
In light of the seafarers’ abandonment, a petition was launched in favour of them, by the British human rights charity ‘Justice Upheld’.
Concluding, David Hammond, Founder of the Human Rights at Sea noted that it is about time that the shipping industry and flags had already considered a single centralized global fund for seafarer’s welfare payments to alleviate financial suffering and the consequences HRAS has witnessed first hand with families here in India.
For more information on the testimony, click the PDF herebelow
