Watch: Day of Seafarer is meaningless without vaccines and crew rights restored, ITF urges

As explained, the life of a seafarer has always been one of sacrifice and hard work. Days, weeks, months at sea away from our families in all weather; relied upon to keep the world and its people moving.

And big problems have always been lurking just beneath the surface in our industry when it comes to the treatment of seafarers: cultural, regulatory, systemic. Insecure work. Unsafe practices. Blacklisting. Abandonment. Flags of Convenience.

In the last year, the pandemic pushed these long-standing problems out of the aquatic shadows, up above the murky depths and into the spotlight for the world to see. From the Ever Given, to the MV Aman, to the thousands of local stories of seafarers trapped working on ships: the world has been engaged on our issues like never before. And so, the public has borne witness to the growing waves of injustice that crash onto the backs of seafarers.

Expected to do so much more than ever before, even as we see our rights sinking before our eyes, this year’s Day of the Seafarer is not a day for celebration for seafarers. But it is a day to say: ‘no more’, ITF marked.

“Once a year the world is asked to acknowledge the seafarers and pay tribute to everything we do, as the ‘unsung heroes’ of global trade and transport. They tell us that we work hard, that we ‘deserve better’. But if nothing changes, if these kind words of thanks do not lead to concrete action to restore our rights, then they are worse than tokenistic platitudes; they are an insult. If you really want to thank seafarers, then we invite you to stand with us for real change to restore our rights, right now. You can ask your national government to take actions like these below”

…a seafarer told ITF.

How governments can help seafarers right now

According to ITF, The world’s governments can act immediately to reduce the suffering and illegal mistreatment of seafarers:

1. start actively supporting the TRIPS vaccine patent waiver being considered by your government’s representatives at the WTO
2. purchase and distribute enough vaccine doses to fully vaccinate all seafarers who are due to visit your ports by the end of 2021, offering every single seafarer the opportunity to be vaccinated
3. purchase and distribute enough vaccine doses to fully vaccinate all seafarers who work on vesselswhich fly your national flag by the end of 2021. If you can’t get doses to all the vessels you are responsible for, partner with governments who can
4. introduce permanent ‘green lane’ exemptions for vaccine-certified seafarers to get to and from ships as part of crew changes
5. restore visiting seafarers’ rights to shore leave and medical assistance along your coasts. If local health officials have the power to block seafarers from coming ashore, revoke their powers.
6. scrap bans on repatriating seafarers’ bodies to their grieving families, a practice that some of you claim is required to manage Covid
7. publish accurate information about how seafarers can access both vaccines and their restored rights in your country, online, in plain English