Introduction
The Missing Seafarers & Fishers Reporting Programme is a flagship programme delivered to the international and maritime communities by the independent maritime Human Rights charity Human Rights at Sea. It is a privately funded programme delivered through the generosity of international donors having been conceived by the charity’s CEO in September 2013. It relies upon voluntary support to run and deliver on behalf of families who have lost loved ones at sea.
Mission
The Mission of the Programme is to support seafarers, fishers and their dependents by the registration, tracking, investigation and advocacy on behalf of those missing at sea through a secure on-line platform. This platform is known as the Missing Seafarer & Fisher’s Register.
Aim
The Aim of the Missing Seafarers & Fishers Reporting Programme is to build an accurate international database of the numbers and status of seafarers and fishermen missing at sea on a global basis.
Vision
The Vision is to support seafarers, fishermen and their dependents by the registration of those missing at sea through a secure, independent and international online platform that is a trusted source of data.
Detail
As it evolves, the Register will become an international multi-lingual on-line platform for registering, tracking, updating, profiling and raising awareness of missing seafarers and fishers on a global basis. It aims to be used by family members, colleagues, employers, non-governmental organisations, flag States, insurers, governments and civil society organisations for their awareness and where applicable, investigation of alleged human and labor rights abuses.
The Programme will support ongoing international awareness of the subject of seafarer and fishers’ welfare, including the issues they face such as the withholding of wages, confiscation of identification documents, abuse of work visas, inhumane working conditions, and other identified human and labor rights abuses. This work will be undertaken in concert with existing seafarer and fisheries organisations and related international projects and programmes.
Where requested, funded and able, Human Rights at Sea will seek to assist in the gathering of evidence, conduct investigations and deliver evidence packages to States’ constabulary and judicial authorities into the disappearance of seafarers and fishers at sea, where applicable.
Need
Since its launch in April 2014, the charity has been variously approached by international NGOs, welfare organisations, networks of international lawyers, human rights and civil society activists all highlighting the issue of seafarers and fishers lost at sea, as well as the lack of a centralized global database and evidence gathering capability.
At the time of writing the charity has numerous cases of missing seafarers and fishers on its books, accompanied by requests for support and investigations by their families and/or family representatives. Some of these cases are currently investigated by the charity, while the true global scale of the issue remains unknown. The Register will therefore seek to quantify and qualify the issue over the forthcoming years.
Access & Availability
The Programme and Register are made available via a number of web addresses that point to the main programme site. These are:
www.missingseafarers.org | www.missingmariners.org | www.missingseamen.org.
The Programme and Register is also accessible from the charity’s main website: www.humanrightsatsea.org
Users
It is envisaged that the users of the Missing Seafarers Register will be:
1. Family members – to register a missing family member.
2. Colleagues of missing seafarers and fishers – to register and update the status of missing persons.
3. Employers – for awareness, profiling and support to families, for the development of tracking policies and assurance for seafarers and fishers’ welfare.
4. Insurers – to review, update and utilize information in support of payments to missing seafarers and fishers’ estates, as appropriate.
5. National constabulary entities – for conducting investigations, as appropriate.
6. International investigative organisations – for conducting investigations, as appropriate.
7. Flag States – for conducting investigations as appropriate and for statistical purposes.
8. Port State authorities – for awareness, profiling and monitoring of seafarers and fishers activities within Port State control.
9. Governments – for general awareness, profiling of seafarers and fishers’ issues, factual statistics and support to seafarers and fishers’ welfare organisations.
10. Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organisations – for general awareness, profile of seafarers and fishes’ issues, factual statistics and support to seafarers and fishers’ welfare organisations.
11. Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) – in support of the charity’s mission, vision and charitable objectives.
Data Protection
Human Rights at Sea processes personal data as a result of third parties submitting personal data to the Programme, as part of independent investigations that are carried out on behalf of third parties, or through the daily activities of the charity itself.
Human Rights at Sea has adopted a transparent and accountable approach with regards to the Programme, and the processing of associated personal data.
Human Rights at Sea is registered with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. As such it abides by the standards required of all data controllers under the UK Data Protection Act 1998.
For further information please read our Privacy Policy.
Contact
For more information contact enquiries@missingseafarers.org