Fear of criminalisation grows

Seafarers’ suggestions on how to improve their situation when facing criminal charges were presented at the landmark 100th session of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently. The suggestions, from a eight-language survey conducted by Seafarers’ Rights International (SRI) during a 12-month period to February 2012, focus as much on fears of their own human rights being violated as on a lack of due process in the criminal process. A total of 3,480 questionnaires were submitted by seafarers from 68 different nationalities.