David Hammond retires as CEO of Human Rights at Sea

PRESS RELEASE

Immediate

14 September 2017

DAVID HAMMOND RETIRES AS CEO OF HUMAN RIGHTS AT SEA

The Trustees of Human Rights at Sea today announce that the Founder of the charity, David Hammond, will be retiring from his role as CEO and will become a Trustee effective as of 1 October 2017. The charity will be appointing a new Chief Operating Officer and expanding its Trustees to bring in further expertise in support of the charity’s continuing growth.

David will be moving on to take up a senior executive role within the Third Sector based in Switzerland, though he will remain in close contact with the charity through his oversight role alongside the other Trustees.

David established the charity based on a concept and initiative that he alone developed in late 2013. It was launched in April 2014 and since then it has led the discussion on the increasingly commonly referred to wide-ranging topic of ‘human rights at sea’, including leading on many unique publications, public exposures of abuses at sea, and the development of an innovative and leading online platform which is now commonly recognised for its independence.

Since the charity’s launch, which was first backed by David’s personal life savings, his dedicated pro bono work and leadership has driven home the use of those four words as a common language term that is increasingly being used throughout the maritime sector, and globally.

Fiona Laurence, Chair of Trustees, said: “David’s vision, drive and selfless commitment to Human Rights at Sea has significantly raised the profile of this fundamental topic at both national and international level.  The Trustees thank David for all his efforts as both Founder and CEO. We wish David well in his new role and we look forward to continuing to engage with him as a Trustee, further developing the very important work and core advocacy issues that underpin Human Rights at Sea.”

David Hammond commented: “It has been a genuine honour to have engaged with so many hard-working and talented individuals and entities to carve out a new international advocacy and awareness platform covering the explicit topic of human rights at sea. The time has now come to allow the charity to mature with the influence of new people and ideas, and I leave the role of CEO at a high point when reviewing all that we have achieved in the past four years.”

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