- :For the fair treatment and non-criminalization of Seafarers:-
30Aug2020
The Captain (Master in command) and the Chief Officer of the grounded Bulk Carrier M.V. Wakashio have been placed in police custody in Mauritius as per the media reports.
The vessel grounded on 25July2020. The immediate media reports point fingers at the ship's Master & crew and their mistakes as the cause for the grounding and the oil spill that followed - though this is without making a methodical investigation.
The unfortunate incident has triggered an (understandably) angry media trials because of the Oil Pollution of the protected Reef areas on Maritius' beautiful coastline.
While the incident is being followed up professionally from almost all angles, the one issue that has triggered frustrations among thousands of active sefarers is that of the often targetting of the Ship's officers and the crews and criminalizing them following such incidents - treating them like ordinary criminals, possibly being locked up with ordinary criminals and possibly facing an unfair trial - there expectation from the people at large is to understand that the seafaeres are decent people at work and not criminals, they may make mistakes, the high impact nature of sea,bays,lakes & rivers Navigation may magnify the outcome into large and damaging consequences, and cause anger, yet the seafarers should not be lined up along with the ordinary criminals and humiliated by the rest of the world who may not understand the complexity and error chains that develop and cause such accidents.
There are those who direct their anger & want to see visibly punitive measures to the Captain and the officer of the watch of the ship (Chief Officer in this case) and there are those who know the highly complex nature of the ship operations and the shipping trade in general and a number of other causal factors and root causes behind many Maritime incidents and wish to see fair treatment of the seafareres who almost never wish or act to cause damage to the environment or cause accidents, they are executing daily activities of enormous responsibility in a prudent manner and a sudden shocking targetting and detaining side by side with the ordinary criminals in many countries is always distressing and unfair.
I came across some groups of senior serving Masters and Mariners expressing this anguish and making simple requests that the Master and the crew be treated as 'Not Guilty till proven Guilty' and being given a Civil Trial and not a Criminal Trial.
Many maritime Unions and other organizations are taking up such issues and making efforts.
My advice / request for the not so organized and mentally disturbed Mariners due to the criminalization of the seafarers is to follow below steps as a minimum instead of only engaging in loosely made social media messages and help bring about the much needed and rightly demanded change right from the top internationally.
My simple guidance for them would be as below: -
1. Form a legally registered group.
2. Agree on being very professional - you will at least need lawyers, paralegals, in- command Masters, Mates, Chief Engineers in service,Engineers, senior ratings, shore-based maritime professionals, IT experts, media experts, people familiar with the IMO, ILO functions in the group in active roles, representatives of the seafarers' families.
2. Get funding.
3. Try and understand the maritime, civil and criminal law enforcement around the world.
4. Engage with the local body politicians and understand their perspectives which can give better insights....
5. Start looking at the international law governing the aftermaths of such incidents.
6. Also start looking at the laws & practices that cause Seafareres' criminalization.
7. Start where the change needs to be made, either on a single or multiple fronts.
8. Evaluate which strategy will workout faster and effectively.
9. Prepare volunteers who can continue as watchdogs even when you all retire.
10. Build-in resilience and also synergize with other campaigners in other fields.
11. Never side with the ethically & legally wrongdoers.
12. Accept that in these efforts your group will also need the help of those whom you may distaste.
13. Show presence in major international peaceful labour conventions.
14. Educate the world at large, in professional language and in effective ways about the commitment of the seafarers' positive contribution to human and environment protection.
15. Educate the world about the hurdles you face in bringing about the worldover change to stop increasing criminalization of the seafarers.
Thank you !!
Capt. U.S.Gogate
