This Sunday, 25 June 2023, marks the “Day of the Seafarer,” a day designated by the International Maritime Organization – a specialised agency of the United Nations.
The day recognises the contribution that the seafarer makes to our everyday lives. Seafarers are required to carry out their duties in a constantly changing, challenging and often dangerous environment, in order that the lifeblood of our economy – international trade – continues to flow.
Seafarers’ contribution highlighted by the IMO
Kitack Lim, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization paid tribute to seafarers.
“This year we highlight seafarers’ contribution to the safety of ships and protection of the marine environment… As the maritime sector continuously works towards making shipping more environmentally sound and sustainable, seafarers play an increasingly important role in helping to protect the health of our ocean and planet. Every day at sea, they help to enforce IMO’s environment related treaties by implementing rules on garbage, and sewage, and air pollution prevention. This year, as we celebrate the 50-year anniversary of our main environmental instrument – the MARPOL Convention – renewing our firm commitment towards the protection of our environment, this remains even more relevant. As the shipping industry accelerates its support of the global efforts to combat climate change by moving towards decarbonization, seafarers’ voices and actions are key to ensuring a just transition to a zero-carbon future,” the Secretary General said in a statement.
The Day of the Seafarer is recognized by the United Nations as an observance day. The Day was established in a resolution adopted by the 2010 Diplomatic Conference in Manila to adopt the revised STCW Convention. Its stated purpose is to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade, the world economy and civil society as a whole.
The resolution “encourages Governments, shipping organizations, companies, shipowners and all other parties concerned to duly and appropriately promote the Day of the Seafarer and take action to celebrate it meaningfully”.
People in positions of power ought to reflect upon their poor attitudes, decisions, policies, conduct towards seafarers during the pandemic
And on that note, it would be well for governments, official bodies, and formal authorities of every kind everywhere in the world to reflect on their attitudes to, behaviours towards, and restrictions imposed on, seafarers all across the world over the last few years.
Developing and implementing policies that help seafarers in their time of need is a matter of basic self-interest. Here in Australia, nearly 6,000 unique cargo ships on approximately 17,500 voyages call at our island nation every year, transporting 99.92% of everything that comes and goes from these shores.
Helping seafarers helps us.
But more than that, basic humanity and compassion should tell us to treat seafarers well. They do difficult, dangerous, jobs in hard conditions far from the comforts of home, family, and friends.
But that basic humanity and compassion was in short supply these last few years.
Human rights of seafarers were denied
Official bodies would not let seafarers have their shore leave. This is a basic human right of seafarers. It should not have been abridged during the pandemic. They had a right to get off the ship and to experience the comforts of being on land. This could have been done safely in a bio-secure way.
But there was no leadership from those in charge. It was easier to deny shore leave – in grave breach of the human rights of seafarers. We hear platitudes now from many in charge about how important seafarers are, but, when it really mattered, those in charge of such organisations conveniently forgot how important seafarers were.
They were to be feared, shunned, and forbidden from coming ashore.
Just for the avoidance of doubt, we do not direct these comments at the IMO or its personnel; on the contrary the IMO and related UN agencies were at the forefront of urging that seafarer rights should be respected. We applaud them for their political leadership. Their stance reflects well upon them.
Nor are these comments directed at shipping companies. They took care of their crews. They took all possible steps and measures to keep their seafarers healthy. They briefed their crews: they provided safe travel to and from the ship; they enforced quarantine zones before, on, and after, a ship’s voyage; they carried out regular testing onboard. In fact, shipping companies did everything possible on every leg of a seafarer’s journey to, on, and from, a ship. Their stance reflects well upon them.
They did not care; they allowed seafarers to suffer
Not that any of this was recognised by those in charge. They still denied seafarers their basic human rights.
And there are many who now say the easy words, but, when it mattered, they were silent.
They did not care.
And worse, through inaction or inactivity, they allowed seafarers to suffer.
We are thinking of the seafarer who was denied access to medical attention for a broken ankle. Or the seafarer who was forbidden access to a dentist to treat his grossly engorged abscess. We cannot imagine the agony which that seafarer must have experienced – days upon days stretching into weeks upon weeks of indescribable pain.
We think also of the hundreds of thousands of seafarers who were unable to leave ship, the many seafarers who were thrown into hotel-quarantine after hotel-quarantine after hotel-quarantine for having the temerity to cross a border for the purposes of delivering food, fuel, and medicine. We think of all the hundreds of thousands of seafarers who were stuck on land and desperate to go back to sea to earn a living for themselves and their families. But none of that was important to those in charge.
Although the IMO, and other UN agencies, designated seafarers as essential workers, those in charge in national jurisdictions did not do so. Being so designated would have enabled seafarers to undertake crew changes, to avoid unnecessary ever-changing red tape, and to avoid being repeatedly thrown into hotel-prison. But none of that was important to those in charge.
Official proposal: go away and die
We also think of the policy proposal to turn ships away from ports, and away from medical treatment, if COVID was detected aboard. What was the message of such a policy? “Go away and die, for we do not care”.
To call such a policy callous, reckless, and inhumane does not begin to deliver words strong enough in condemnation. But none of that was important to those in charge.
Fortunately, the policy was not implemented. But it should never have been proposed.
Then there are others who, at the time, forgot abut the importance of seafarers, did not respect their rights, and who disregarded the basic humanity of seafarers. But none of that was important to those in charge.
Invitation to reflect
On this forthcoming Day of the Seafarer, we invite people in positions of power and authority to reflect upon the effect of their attitudes, policies, decisions, and conduct, during the time that seafarers really needed empathy, care, and compassion.
