The charity Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) has called for greater resources to be deployed by both UN bodies, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), to fight the scourge of crew abandonment. It has also demanded flag and port states are held more accountable when seafarers are left stranded by unscrupulous owners.
“Progress on this issue continues to be painfully slow and the true reality is that the industry really does not care,” HRAS claimed in a release today. It called for a new tack.
“Why not tell the truth,” it suggested. “Identify the weakness and individual failures to address impunity at state-level? Hold port and flag states accountable, where applicable?
“Get the issue on the table as a long-term priority at the IMO and ILO and provide a long-term solution, not soundbites, and certainly not have it undertaken behind closed doors thereby exacerbating the current lack of transparency in the shipping community.”
HRAS also published today more shocking videos provided by Indian seafarers stranded on the Dharma, a vessel abandoned off the UAE coast in Ajman anchorage for the past ten months.
Splash readers can see the shocking conditions onboard for themselves by clicking the video below.
