Just over 21% of seafarers have been asked for illegal recruitment or placement fees, according to new research from Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom.
Monies demanded ranged from US$50 up to $7,500 with an average of $1,872. Researchers added that around 10% of the seafarers who responded to the survey are still in debt because of these payments. Most seafarers in the survey, about 92%, indicated a “great level” of concern about these practices and wanted them to stop, the researchers reported in “Survey on Fees and Charges for Seafarer Recruitment or Placement“.
Banned fees and charges
Payment of fees or other charges for seafarer recruitment are banned by the Maritime Labour Convention*, which is an international treaty that sets out seafarers rights on work, and their conditions of work, on almost every aspect of their working and living arrangements.
Passports retained
Over a quarter of respondents to the survey, 29%, reported that that had experienced retention of some of their documents and typically, in such cases, the Continuous Discharge Certificate / Seaman’s book and passport were retained.
About half of those who paid fees reported having their documents retained.
“This high percentage can be attributed to coercion tactics, for example the retention of documents to ensure payment of a recruitment fee, or to guarantee employment on a particular vessel so that the agent receives a fee from the hiring company,” the research report states.
Who demands the illegal fees?
The research showed that nearly two-thirds of the seafaring respondents, about 57.8%, reported that the crewing agent requested the fees, while nearly one-third (31.1%) indicated that the request came from some other person linked to either the crewing agent or the shipping company. About 11% of requests originated from employees of a shipping company.
The researchers reported a wide range of adverse consequences. They included debt bondage, extended family separation, mental health issues, limited career opportunities, loss of trust in the industry and institutions.
However, more than two-thirds of responding seafarers reported that they were well-versed in the Maritime Labor Convention received regular training. About one quarter (25%) stated they only had partial knowledge and training. Just over one-third (35.7%) replied that they did not know the procedure to file a complaint against recruitment fees, corrupt demands, or unlawful retention of documents.
How to enforce rights – the views of seafarers
Just over half of respondents though that increasing awareness would be a way to reduce these practices and the inclusion of Maritime Labour Convention awareness certification was supported by 32.7% of seafarers. A further third (31.3%) suggested that frequent and regular education on what fees can and cannot be requested would be a way to tackle the problem.
Seafarers also provided a variety of free text responses and these included suggestions that maritime administrations should impose stricter measures on manning agents and to penalise them for charging illegal fees. They also suggest that office staff should be educated that such fees are illegal and should not be requested. Some seafarers also suggested that ship owners should be accountable for the manning companies that they use. It was also suggested that ship owners could create anonymous reporting systems that are easy for seafarers to use to report illegal practices.
Survey recommendations
The researchers felt that the existing definition of fees and charges is “very broad” and argued that the charges should be more precisely defined to avoid confusion and that some examples should be provided.
It was also concluded that there is a need to review national regulations to ensure that they are aligned with the provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention and that the review should identify any instance where national regulations contradict the MLC. It was also thought beneficial to identify countries where recruitment fees are permitted for land-based or overseas jobs, particularly for migrant workers.
“This means that migrant workers, in some countries, might be legally charged for employment-related fees; and might, therefore, not be aware of the fact that these charges are illegal for jobs at sea. Additionally, if these unlawful charges are commonplace in other industries, it could suggest that they are accepted as social and cultural norms, despite being illegal. For instance, in the Philippines, the world’s leading supplier of seafarers, recruitment agencies are permitted by law to collect placement fees from migrant workers who are sent abroad,” the report’s researchers noted.
The researchers also concluded that further research is necessary.
About the survey
Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University are undertaking a study on practices that are exploitative of seafarers. The questionnaire survey was designed in co-operation with the Mission to Seafarers – which sponsored the study – and the Institute of Human Rights and Business.
Researchers gathered about 210 valid answers and most of these respondents originated from the Philippines (25.24%), India (21.90%), and Sri Lanka (9.52%). Details of the confidence interval (also called the “margin of error”) and the confidence level were not provided.
The “Sample Size Calculator,” from Creative Research Systems indicates that a survey with 210 respondents from a population of 1.6 million people (which is the population of seafarers in the global maritime workforce) would have a margin of error of 6.76% at a confidence level of 95%.
Or, to put it another way, we can be sure to an accuracy of about 95% that the results that would be recorded if the whole seafaring population answered the questions could be 6.76% lower or greater than the results in the survey.
A margin of error between 4% to 8% at a confidence level of 95% is typically regarded as acceptable.
* See MLC Standard A1.4 – Recruitment and placement 5(b).
