Amid fears of an escalation of the humanitarian crisis facing seafarers, Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI), the maritime legal research organization, warns that rogue operators may benefit without proper enforcement of the UN initiative to protect seafarers’ rights during COVID-19.
More specifically, SRI welcomes the recent initiative from United Nations Agencies to protect seafarers’ rights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
SRI also urged all cargo owners and charterers to support the new wide-ranging human rights toolkit, however it warned that some operators could benefit if the standards are not properly enforced.
It is very welcome to see this response to the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis from the UN Global Compact, the UN Human Rights Office, the International Labour Organization and the International Maritime Organization. Such initiatives can be very effective in creating awareness and raising the standards of acceptable behaviour in the global supply chains
says Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of SRI.
Nevertheless, Ms. Fitzpatrick added that ”there is always a minority who seek to exploit any situation and who compete unfairly with the rest of the industry.”
It is these rogue operators who will not have the new toolkit top of their reading list and who must not be allowed to escape the standards
For this reason, SRI urges that enforcement is essential to the success of this initiative.
Whilst we can always hope that voluntary standards are followed, there needs also to be a commitment to address how these standards can be enforced. Here there is a critical role to be played by the industry, by workers and their organisations, and by the States themselves
Ms. Fitzpatrick concluded.
The Due Diligence Tool for cargo owners and charterers has been issued amid concerns that the number of crew stranded at sea due to COVID-19 restrictions could surge from the current level of 200,000, potentially returning to the peak of 400,000 seafarers at the height of the crew change crisis in September 2020.
The move follows the launch by the Global Maritime Forum of the Neptune Declaration Crew Change Indicator, which aims to provide up-to-date information on the impact of the crew change crisis.