OPINION
20th December 2019
London, UK. Human Rights at Sea CEO was interviewed by SAFETY4SEA for their end-of-year Opinion piece covering industry’s wider engagement with the concept and development of Human Rights at Sea.
“2019 was a milestone year for addressing human rights at sea since the first version of the inaugural ‘Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea’ was published by Human Rights at Sea, in March. Also, the British charity launched its online platform to ensure that everyone interested can review and comment on the work being undertaken. On the occasion of these important developments, Mr. David Hammond Esq., Barrister (Non-Practising), CEO, Human Rights At Sea shares his insights into achieving greater equality, justice and freedom within the maritime industry in the next years, highlighting that not much progress has been made so far while wider awareness on this important topic is of outmost importance.”
“SAFETY4SEA: Why do we need to raise awareness about human rights at sea?
David Hammond: In 2013, if you had typed those four words, ‘human rights at sea’ into any global search engine, as a matter of fact and at that time there was no independent civil-society platform explicitly exposing and developing the narrative of the topic of ‘human rights at sea’ across the whole maritime environment covering the scope of seafarers, fishers, migrants and refugees. In a world that is based on the rule of law with international Conventions covering disabled, environmental, women, animal and labour rights that are well-established, there was nothing covering the explicit issue of human rights in the maritime space based on the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights 1948. The fact that a civil-society organisation had to be established to develop the topic answers just why wider awareness is essential.”
Read the Full article HERE.