ISWAN urges legislators to protect seafarers from exploitation

The report, “The Impact of Recruitment Fraud on Indian Seafarers”, reveals how illegal recruitment practices exploit thousands of seafarers, trapping them in cycles of debt, exploitation, and unsafe working conditions. The research findings point to systemic factors that are fueling the widespread activities of fraudulent recruitment agents in India.

It is appalling that the very people who keep the world’s supply chains running are exploited by unscrupulous agents, whose actions severely impact seafarers and the families who depend on them. 

… said Simon Grainge, Chief Executive of ISWAN. Meanwhile, Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, Provost (I/C) of GMU, expressed his support for the study, emphasizing its role in raising awareness and advocating for legal reforms.

The study also highlights a number of steps that can be taken to strengthen the current legislative framework and its operational implementation in order to better protect seafarers from being exploited by illegal recruitment and placement service providers. The framework proposed by the report includes the following suggestions:

1. Recommendations for Strengthening the MLC

• The MLC should impose an obligation on Member States to prescribe stringent penalties through domestic laws on fraudulent seafarer recruitment agents who are found operating within the territory of the state.
• Flag States must be mandated by the MLC to act against foreign shipowners that are found to be dealing with unregistered manning agents. Action could include blacklisting beneficial owners/managers of such foreign shipowners to prevent them from entering the Flag State’s waters.
• The MLC should require Member States to establish a designated fund to protect seafarers who are recruited through unregistered manning agencies operating in their territory. This fund should be utilised for repatriation of such seafarers in case of abandonment or being stranded.

2. Recommendation for the ILO

• The ILO should develop a separate database for reporting cases of fraudulent recruitment by manning agencies, whether they are operating with or without a licence. This database can be in line with the existing seafarer abandonment database. The database should contain information on action taken by the state on whose territory the incident was reported.

3. Recommendations for the Indian Maritime Administration

• India should amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 to incorporate specific provisions prescribing monetary penalties along with criminal sanctions on individuals who operate recruitment and placement agencies without a licence from the Seamen’s Employment Office.
• The proposed two lakh rupees fine on registered recruitment and placement agencies as provided in the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2020 should be made more stringent to ensure that it serves as a sufficient deterrent to charging fraudulent service charges to seafarers. In such cases, the fine should be five times the money charged from the seafarers and imprisonment should be up to two years for those involved in recruitment fraud. Further, the agency should be banned from conducting any maritime business for five years.
• The Merchant Shipping Recruitment and Placement Rules, 2016 should be amended and a designated fund should be established to protect seafarers who join ships through unregistered manning agencies. This fund should be utilised toward the costs of repatriation of such seafarers in the event that they are stranded or abandoned in foreign ports. The fund could be created out of fines levied on unregistered manning agencies.
• DG Shipping should put in place procedures to ensure that seafarers who have been recruited through unregistered agencies can access support, for example, in the event that they are stranded overseas. This should include working in a more structured way with seafarer welfare organisations that can provide emotional and psychosocial support to seafarers during such times of crisis, as well as looking after the wellbeing of their families.
• DG Shipping should establish a separate wing to handle fraud committed by unregistered recruitment and placement agencies. It should provide legal assistance to concerned seafarers to ensure that they have a clear route to access support and are not directed to multiple government departments. The designated wing should ensure that seafarers are aware of legal options to secure the return of their money, including providing a simple standard operating procedure (SOP) to set out the actions that seafarers need to initiate in the event of being exploited by a fraudulent recruitment agency. The wing should also support seafarers who are exploited by a fraudulent crewing agent to file a criminal case.
• The Home Ministry should issue specific directions to the police department to ensure that processes are in place to address allegations by seafarers relating to fraudulent recruitment and placement agents in a timely, consistent and effective manner. DG Shipping should issue guidelines to seafarers on the steps to initiate if the police do not accept their complaint against fraudulent recruitment agencies. This should include establishing a clear process and guidance for seafarers to ensure that they understand their legal rights and the routes available to them to lodge a complaint and recover their money.
• Where the seafarer exploited by a fraudulent recruitment agency is unwilling or unable to file an FIR with police, DG Shipping should initiate criminal action against fraudulent agents, where sufficient evidence exists.
• The Bureau of Immigration across all airports and seaports should periodically be sensitised/made aware of the e-migration process to protect any seafarers at risk of exploitation by recruitment fraud and to ensure that seafarers without valid documents do not encounter undue delays in leaving the country to take up jobs at sea.
• DG Shipping should conduct frequent awareness programmes to educate seafarers about the differences between licensed and unlicensed manning agencies and make them aware of the risks of joining a ship through an unregistered manning agency. Awareness campaigns should focus particularly on young and inexperienced seafarers. DG Shipping should also mandate training institutes to conduct awareness campaigns about the risks posed by fraudulent agents.
• The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 should be amended to prescribe action against foreign ships in Indian ports in the event that such ships are found to have recruited seafarers through unregistered manning agents operating in India. The action should include blacklisting such foreign ships to prevent them entering Indian waters for a certain period.
• DG Shipping should consider collaborating more closely with the ITF to further strengthen the ITFShipBeSure database to ensure that Indian seafarers have access to comprehensive information about agencies that are known to have exploited seafarers and agencies with a trusted reputation. A similar strategy should be adopted for the shipowners who hire seafarers from unregistered manning agencies.
• DG Shipping should take more stringent measures to tackle the practice of registered agencies subletting their licences to non-registered service providers. This should include a prescription of penal action against individuals operating registered agencies, which is found to sublet the licence.
• DG Shipping should review its policy of allowing seafarers to obtain a Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) after completing four basic STCW courses. This creates an oversupply of seafarers who cannot gain the necessary sea time and leaves newly qualified seafarers vulnerable to exploitation by fraudulent agents.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE