Initial results of SRI's research on seafarers Initial results of the first major survey undertaken by Seafarers' Rights International (SRI) into the experiences of seafarers facing criminal charges have thrown up worrying claims that seafarers are subjected to unfair treatment and feel intimidated by policing authorities around the world, and that they are not provided legal representation and interpretation services when needed.The survey of 3,480 seafarers was undertaken in the 12 months to the end of February 2012. It was conducted in eight languages - Chinese, English, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Tagalog. Responses were received from 18 countries and 68 different nationalities of seafarers.Of the seafarers surveyed, 8% had faced criminal charges at some stage in their career, while 4% had been witnesses in criminal prosecutions and 33% knew of colleagues who had faced criminal charges. Worryingly, almost 24% of Masters in the survey said they had faced criminal charges.Responses to the questionnaire were collected by sampling seafarers using the same country proportions of seafarers as contained in BIMCO's Manpower 2005 Update, the Worldwide Demand for and Supply of Seafarers. The responses were then weighted to incorporate new observations as contained in BIMCO's Report of Manpower 2010. Thus, ...
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