The United Nations (UN) urges the industry to take immediate action to solve the “humanitarian crisis“, calling for an urgent and concrete response from all actors involved –including the business sector.
The statement highlights that seafarers have become collateral victims of COVID-19-related measures imposed by Governments. Τhis includes travel bans, embarkation and disembarkation restrictions or suspension in the issuance of travel documents, which have severely strained the working conditions in the global shipping sector.
The OHCHR, the UN Global Compact and the UN Working Group on Business Rights call upon all relevant business enterprises to discharge their human rights responsibilities to address the current humanitarian crisis in the shipping industry in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles, by:
- Conducting human rights due diligence to identify the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and of governments’ response to COVID on the human rights of seafarers and other marine personnel
across their value chain, and actively using their leverage to mitigate these impacts to the greatest extent possible; - Communicating to their business partners and suppliers the expectations that they will also conduct human rights due diligence and exercise their leverage in this regard;
- Urging government authorities to promptly implement policy and legal measures designed to alleviate the situation of seafarers, including by easing embarkment and disembarkment restrictions and expediting repatriation efforts;
- Joining forces with other relevant actors, including industry associations and unions such as the ICS and the ITF, to exert collective leverage within their respective spheres of influence;
- Engaging in meaningful dialogue and consultation with seafarers’ and other worker’s organisations, trade unions, civil society organisations, and other-stakeholders in the design of relevant measures and actions, and,
- Supporting statements and efforts, and following the technical guidance and protocols developed by the relevant international organisations, including the IMO, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), together with industry associations and unions.
Concluding, the OHCHR, the UN Global Compact and the UN Working Group on Business Rights stated that
The OHCHR, the UN Global Compact and the UN Working Group on Business Rights recognise and welcome the efforts that some companies have already undertaken to address the unparalleled challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to maritime workers globally, and appeal to other business enterprises to do the same. The UN Guiding Principles provide the blueprint for the much-needed, urgent engagement from the world’s business community.