Human Rights at Sea, the charity that championed new laws to protect the world’s 1.9m seafarers, has closed down because of a lack of money.
David Hammond set up the charity in 2014 based on the principle that human rights apply at sea as much as on land.
It campaigned on issues including deaths and disappearances of seafarers, the abandonment of crews and sexual abuse on board ships.
Its work included drawing up a document, dubbed the Geneva Declaration of Human Rights at Sea, that offered practical guidance to states to detect and end abuses at sea.
But the organisation relied on charitable funding and lawyers working without charge to make it work.
“With a heavy heart, we have closed as a sustainable funding and operating model could not be secured,” it said.
Hammond stepped down after a decade in December 2023 to set up a subsidiary that would shift from public advocacy to paid consultancy and more behind-the-scenes investigations of abuse.
The subsidiary, Human Rights at Sea International, will continue despite the charity’s closure.
Hammond said it would “support new initiatives, as well as put funds into worthy causes to further the protections of human rights at sea, as able”.
Abandonment cases are spiralling, geopolitical disputes are making seafarers targets and the industry is grappling with a recruitment crisis.(Copyright)
Read more
- Seafarer abandonment ‘spiralling’ as 2024 sees record-high
- Fraudsters target seafarer families in ‘fake crime’ scam
- Outspoken rights campaigner turns attention to investigating abuse in shipping
- Give a ‘greater share of heart and mind’ to human rights at sea
- Seafarers, scams and extortion: ‘There are no jobs without a bribe’
