The importance that MLC 2006 delivers on its promises to seafarers; the threat of criminalisation; the consequences of crew abandonment; the need to establish enforceable seafarers’ rights at the international and national levels; as well as the need to inform seafarers about their rights; and to provide lawyers with access to legal materials that should assist them when defending the rights of seafarers in courts around the world, all remain at the top of the list of concerns of the members of the SRI Advisory Board.

The Board Members are drawn from a wide range of SRI stakeholder groups and the focus of the Board remains on the mission statement of SRI – research, education and training to advance the rights of seafarers.

“Ensuring seafarers actually know what rights they have and encouraging them to assert them without fear of retribution is one of the key issues which needs to be developed as far as seafarers’ rights are concerned” said Brian Orrell, OBE, SRI Advisory Board Chairman.

“Too often seafarers are kept uninformed of their rights intentionally in the mistaken belief that what they don't know won't hurt them and onboard ship working and living environments will be all the better for that."

In many situations where seafarers do know their rights they work and live in onboard environments where they fear asserting them or are unaware of the procedures to do so. There remains a considerable amount of hard work to be done. MLC 2006 will hopefully address some of the deficiencies in knowledge and attitudes that result in this situation but on its own it will not be enough” he said.

The entry into force of MLC 2006 is widely acknowledged as a good step in the right direction. But while the seafarer may be coming into sharper international focus as a result, there is still some way to go, according to Dr Rosalie Balkin, retired Director of the Legal Affairs and External Relations Division of the IMO in London, a position she has held since 1998.

She told SRI: “I think it is not all there yet for the seafarer. In the IMO Legal Committee we worked hard to draw up guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers in the event of a maritime accident. A lot of work was done but there are still situations that demonstrate that the guidelines are not being adhered to.”

“SRI has to be aware or be apprised of the difficulties which may arise around the world when it comes to the rights of seafarers” asserted Rear-Admiral (Maritime Affairs) Jean-Marc Schindler former head of the French Marine Accident Investigation Office.” Tools should be developed to monitor the implementation of seafarers’ rights and instruments should be set up to help seafarers protect themselves against any infringement of their rights” he said.

“What we need over the next year is a full and efficient implementation of MLC 2006 as well as a reduction in the numbers and delays associated with abandonment cases” added Jean-Marc Schindler. “I would like to think that seafarers could be aware of all that SRI is producing to help them in their time of need and to find a way to get feedback on their usefulness.”

This was a point echoed by Professor Alastair Couper Professor Emeritus at Cardiff University. “Where I see the problems for the seafarers is getting access to the right legal advice. You take a multinational ship with divided people onboard and unknown owners and you get a picture that the crew may have a problem with individuals onboard; maybe there are problems of abuse with seafarers not receiving their wages etc. So where do they turn to? How do they deal with exploitation and excessive hours of work? Some people I am dealing with don’t even know they are being exploited and what their rights are” he said.

And how are seafarers served by the law and by lawyers? According to Professor Hilton Staniland (former chairman of the Board of Directors of the South African Maritime Safety Authority) of the University of Southampton, chair of SRI’s editorial group, barrister of the High Court of South Africa, and visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich, the challenges facing SRI issues are fourfold: first, at the international level there must be fair and decent treatment of seafarers enshrined in conventions and other international legal instruments; second, at the national level the conventions and other instruments must be fully enforceable by seafarers in domestic courts; third, at the local level seafarers must be fully informed of and kept updated about their rights. “Some lawyers know about seafarers’ rights, others don’t, and mostly lawyers don’t; and if a seafarer has a lawyer representing him who is not experienced in these matters, then he may end up in jail through inadequate representation. So the fourth challenge”, he added “is to provide lawyers with access to legal materials, guides, courses and a network of professional contacts that should assist them when defending the rights of seafarers in courts around the world.”

Ensuring the seafarer is aware of his rights under MLC 2006 is an important factor, according to Advisory Board member Father Bruno Ciceri, a representative of the Apostleship of the Sea International. “Now that MLC 2006 has entered into force we need to inform seafarers how the Convention can be used to improve their working and living conditions onboard ship and how they can have their rights protected. If in two years’ time we are able to have every seafarer aware of this it will be a great achievement,” he said. Father Bruno also pointed to concerns about the way the agency manning system is run in some countries especially in the aftermath of new legislation. “In many countries I feel that the agency manning system is still very problematic and it will be interesting to make a study after the entry into force of MLC 2006 to see if things have changed or improved.”

Seafarers must be able to access a mechanism to defend themselves against employers reluctant to support them over wages or personal injury cases, according to Attorney at Law and Advisory Board member Richard J Dodson. “One predominant issue is the practice of some ship owners to blacklist seafarers who attempt to enforce their rights to be paid the wages set forth in collective agreements or who seek compensation for injuries even for the amount set forth as scheduled benefits in a collective agreement. While ship owners of all nationalities have engaged in this practice it is especially prevalent in Asia with the exploitation of seamen from Myanmar.”

The availability of local lawyers with an understanding of seafarers’ rights is a key issue moving forward contended Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General of InterManager. SRI also has to see its role develop as a watchdog for the IMO and for the ILO as the fight continues to put a stop to the issue of criminalisation. “Piracy and criminalisation will remain the biggest issues facing seafarers over the next year or so and while MLC 2006 may have entered into force, greater work needs to be done to clarify the definition of the seafarer and the owner and to speed up its ratification by other countries.”

These were thoughts shared by fellow Advisory Board member Leslie Tarantola, General Counsel of the Seafarers’ International Union of North America who said that criminalisation and a safer work environment were the biggest issues facing seafarers around the world now and over the next 12 months.

“When you work in other trades and something happens (that may be through no fault of your own) you generally do not have to worry about ending up in jail and facing a foreign legal system without counsel or the rights you had come to expect in your own country. While MLC 2006 is a major achievement, I believe there is still a long way to go to raise the standard of living for those working on FOC ships, to make ships a safer work environment, and to deal with the companies who will continue to operate in violation of law or convention. Having MLC 2006 alone is not enough: it is a very good start but strict enforcement must follow and the standards created must be built upon and improved over time.”

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Source: Seafarers Right