The Indian Government and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) are thriving in light of their newly launched ‘human rights at sea’ agenda, also following their first seminar on the topic held in Mumbai on 28 February 2019, and last week’s historic NHRC meeting in New Dehli on Monday 8 July co-organised with the Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS) think-tank.
According to The Times of India, discussions around human rights at sea of Indian Seafarers were held between NHRC Delhi members led by Dr Dyneshwar M Mulay Secretary General Sh Jaideep Govind, officials from Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of External Affairs, delegates from FINS, and civil society representatives.
In light of Indian Seafarers’ abuse, the UK-based Human Rights at Sea published a summary of examples of human rights cases, including abuses towards Indian seafarers current as of 12th July, including:
- Estimated data shows that there are about 200 Indian seafarers in foreign jails.
- 65 Indian seafarers stranded for 151 days on ships in Indonesia.
- More than 82 Indian seafarers onboard three Mercator vessels stranded for the last month with wages unpaid for last three months including the dredger Omkara Prem off Porbandar, and the dredger Tridevi Prem off Mangalore.
- More than 40 Indian seafarers are stranded in Dubai.
- More than 15 Indian seafarers stranded in Iran with two stranded for more than 20 months.
- Unreported cases of illegal detention and imprisonment of Indian Seafarers in foreign waters continue to be reported.
- On the 5th July 2019 , Times Of Indian (TOI) Mumbai stated that 25 ships off Mumbai coast posed significant danger with one, the MT Tag Navya, abandoned and unmanned within port limits.
Moreover, there are additional examples of Indian seafarers being abused in the seas, such as:
- the case of 23 detained Indian seafarers of the MT SG Pegasus by the Indonesian Navy for over five months
- the recent closure of 8 maritime training institutes by the Director General Shipping for issues such as fraudulently admitting students to unapproved courses and issuing course certificates without attendance
- exposure of case of the Panamanian flagged MV Nautical Global XVI anchored 19 nautical miles off Deendayal Portin western India for two-and-a-half years after arrest following a Gujarat High Court order in may 2017
- the arrest and detention of the Panamanian flagged vessel Sea Horizon by Ghanaian naval authorities due to a contractual dispute between Nigerian companies including an assessed five Indian Seafarers.
In the meantime, David Hammond, Human Rights at Sea Founder, commented
As a founding member of the IMO, Indian authorities have rapidly taken on the emerging human rights at sea topic and are now pro-actively developing the subject-matter at State-level to start to comprehensively address human rights abuses within the Indian maritime sector.
The Secretary General concluded the 8th July meeting with Dr. Dyneshwar Mulay submitting that the NHRC should continue to discuss the issue through an informal working group headed by the Registrar of the NHRC.
