Seafarers UK has granted financial support for the development of an international register of missing seafarers, including fishermen, a project launched by Human Rights at Sea (HRAS), a not-for-profit resource for the international maritime community.
HRAS was founded by barrister David Hammond, author for the on-going international development and codification of Human Rights at Sea.
”The funding lead was taken by Seafarers UK, and consequently, HRAS is now in a firm position to make this project a reality on behalf of the international seafaring community. We hope that this vanguard initiative will subsequently prove to be an attractive, cost-effective and strategically important human rights based platform worthy of on-going international engagement and support,” said Hammond.
Seafarers UK’s Director of Grants Dennis Treleaven said that the need for a project of this kind was long overdue, and that the global scale of the issue was still unknown.
”The new database will seek to quantify the issue, by providing evidence of missing seafarers to inform international maritime bodies, governments and the UN. The grant from Seafarers UK will also enable HRAS to support the families of missing seafarers and further raise awareness of the broader subject of seafarers’ welfare and the issues some face, such as the withholding of wages, confiscation of identification documents, inhumane working conditions and other human rights and labour abuses,” said Treleaven.
Press Release