Press Release
15th July 2019
London, UK. The Indian Government and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) are driving forward with the newly created ‘human rights at sea’ agenda in quick time following the first national seminar on the topic held in Mumbai on 28 February 2019, and last week’s historic NHRC meeting in New Dehli on Monday 8 July co-organised with the Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS) think-tank.
As first reported by The Times of India and copied to Human Rights at Sea prior to publishing, NHRC Delhi members led by Dr Dyneshwar M Mulay Secretary General Sh Jaideep Govind, officials from Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of External Affairs, delegates from FINS, and civil society representatives held discussions over the topic of ‘Human Rights at Sea of Indian Seafarers’.
NHRC Member Dr Mulay remarked that human rights abuses of seafarers are on the rise and it’s a serious matter of concern for both NHRC and the Indian Government.
The evidence of abuses at sea are numerous with the case of 23 detained Indian seafarers of the MT SG Pegasus by the Indonesian Navy for over five months, the recent closure of eight maritime training institutes by the Director General Shipping for issues such as fraudulently admitting students to unapproved courses and issuing course certificates without attendance, exposure of case of the Panamanian flagged MV Nautical Global XVI anchored 19 nautical miles off Deendayal Port in western India for two-and-a-half years after arrest following a Gujarat High Court order in may 2017; and the arrest and detention of the Panamanian flagged vessel Sea Horizon by Ghanaian naval authorities due to a contractual dispute between Nigerian companies including an assessed five Indian Seafarers.
Human Rights at Sea has been provided with a summary of examples of human rights cases, including abuses towards Indian seafarers current as of 12th July, including:
- Estimated data shows that there are about 200 Indian seafarers in foreign jails.
- 65 Indian seafarers stranded for 151 days on ships in Indonesia.
- More than 82 Indian seafarers onboard three Mercator vessels stranded for the last month with wages unpaid for last three months including the dredger Omkara Prem off Porbandar, and the dredger Tridevi Prem off Mangalore.
- More than 40 Indian seafarers are stranded in Dubai.
- More than 15 Indian seafarers stranded in Iran with two stranded for more than 20 months.
- Unreported cases of illegal detention and imprisonment of Indian Seafarers in foreign waters continue to be reported.
- On the 5th July 2019 , Times Of Indian (TOI) Mumbai stated that 25 ships off Mumbai coast posed significant danger with one, the MT Tag Navya, abandoned and unmanned within port limits.
The Secretary General concluded the 8th July meeting with Dr. Dyneshwar Mulay submitting that the NHRC should continue to discuss the issue through an informal working group headed by the Registrar of the NHRC.
Having been party to and reviewed the submission paperwork, the charity is pleased to hear that FINS will now proceed with a project on Human Rights at Sea to review the issue, its scope, and deliver a report covering issues such as slavery, trafficking, illegal employment, recruitment processes, and currently available and future remedies.
Human Rights at Sea Founder, David Hammond, commented that: “As a founding member of the IMO, Indian authorities have rapidly taken on the emerging human rights at sea topic and are now pro-actively developing the subject-matter at State-level to start to comprehensively address human rights abuses within the Indian maritime sector. As highlighted by the charity in February in Mumbai, this State-level leadership and associated policy development now needs to be further replicated around the world to be truly effective.”
Ends.
Important Note to Readers
Human Rights at Sea continues to publish educational materials, publications, investigative case studies of individual and family testimony highlighting unacceptable conditions onboard vessels of all tonnages, as well as throughout the associated maritime supply chain, in order to establish greater public awareness of the issues raised without compromising our editorial freedom.
The charity does not subscribe to any imposed protocols and agreements with other entities effectively limiting the ability to report freely and objectively disclose facts, including the reality of unacceptable labour, and wider human rights abuses at sea.
The charity will therefore continue to take a legal and moral stand whenever and wherever it can to fairly advocate for the betterment of human rights, working conditions, and the reduction in abuse at sea. This includes pressing issues such as the criminalisation of seafarers and humanitarian rescuers, abuses towards migrants, impunity of flag States in transparently reacting to and addressing reported abuse, the expansion of the positive contributory role of civil society organisations in the maritime sector, and the provision of greater awareness of effective remedies when abuse occurs.
Our Ask in return
We rely on public and private donations to be able to continue this invaluable and independent work free of bias and interference and every donation, however small or large, goes to assure continuation of our transparent and objective front-end work ensuring that ‘human rights apply at sea, as they do on land’. Thank you.