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STORY: OHCHR / COVID-19 SHIP CREW MEMBERS
TRT: 3:40
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 06 OCTOBER 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations exterior
06 OCTOBER 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“In all, some 400,000 people are currently stranded on vessels, and a similar number are prevented from returning to ships, either to earn their living or to return home, due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel and transit. In some cases, people have been trapped on the same ship for 17 months or longer, which is far beyond the maximum 11 months permitted under international labour standards.”
3. Med shot, journalist
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“As well as people working on container ships and other commercial vessels essential to the global supply chain, similar conditions have been affecting people working in the fishing industry and on offshore oil and gas platforms. Such conditions are having a profoundly negative impact on basic human rights, including their right to physical and mental health, right to freedom of movement, and right to family life.”
5. Med shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“A number of UN entities including the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization, as well as important bodies such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the International Chamber of Shipping have been trying to draw attention to the problem and have proposed solutions including the need to grant crew members key worker status, essential key worker status. However, Government anti-COVID measures continue to directly affect the capacity of ship operators to perform routine and necessary crew changes or grant shore leave.”
7. Med shot, journalist
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“And I just would add, this is really a hidden crisis. These people are at sea. They're living in horrible conditions. You can imagine even the existing standards where you could be onboard ship for up to 11 months is pretty rough if you have a family back home. Many of these ship crew members earn a pittance. But some of them have been stuck on board now for 16 - 17 months without any kind of ability to go to shore any way. So, it's a really pretty graphically horrible situation. “
9. Med shot, journalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“IMO, for example, put out a press release on the 25th of September, which I would urge you to read. And they quote a ship captain. And he says, you know, imagine how you would feel if you had to work every day for 12 hours with no weekends without seeing your loved ones and trapped at sea. And now add -- that you have to do that with no idea of when you will be repatriated.”
11. Close up, journalist writing in notebook
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Also, an issue raised by IMO is the safety of ships with people living in these conditions for such a long time. And the impact that overly fatigued and mentally exhausted seafarers, you know, of trying to control and run ships in the conditions they’re in. So, the safety of navigation, as he put it, is in peril. So it's, it's a really grave -- and there could be economic ramifications, too, because the global supply chain absolutely depends on these ships and on their crews. So, you know, there may be just around the corner -- and there are those who believe we may have a major international economic crisis based on the breakdown of the shipping system because of the failure to resolve this problem.”
13. Med shot, journalists
A spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said some 400,000 people are currently stranded at sea due to COVID-19 restriction living in a “pretty graphically horrible situation.”
Speaking to reporters in Geneva today (06 Oct), OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville said nearly 400,000 people are currently stranded on vessels, and a similar number are prevented from returning to ships due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel and transit, with some having been “trapped on the same ship for 17 months or longer – far beyond the maximum 11 months permitted under international labour standards.”
A joint statement by OHCHR, the UN Global Compact and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights was released today addressing the issue.
Colville said similar conditions have been affecting people working in the fishing industry and on offshore oil and gas platforms. He added, “Such conditions are having a profoundly negative impact on basic human rights, including their right to physical and mental health, right to freedom of movement, and right to family life.”
The spokesperson said a number of UN entities including the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization, as well as important bodies such as the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the International Chamber of Shipping have been trying to draw attention to the problem and have proposed solutions “including the need to grant crew members key worker status, essential key worker status. However, Government anti-COVID measures continue to directly affect the capacity of ship operators to perform routine and necessary crew changes or grant shore leave.”
OHCHR said the responsibility to respect the human rights of seafarers and put an end to the intolerable situation in which they find themselves, is not only limited to governments and the shipping sector. In line with the UN Guiding Principles, this responsibility also extends to the thousands of business enterprises that use the services of maritime freight transport – which accounts for almost 90 per cent of world trade. Business enterprises in all sectors, especially multinational firms and global brands, as well as financial institutions, should assess and act to remedy the human rights situation of seafarers in the context of COVID, no matter what place they occupy in the so-called “value chain.”
The joint statement called on relevant business enterprises to identify the impacts of the pandemic, and of governments’ response to it, on the human rights of seafarers and other marine personnel and to actively use their leverage to mitigate those impacts as much as possible. It called on them to communicate this expectation to business partners and suppliers and exercise the leverage they have. It encouraged them to urge governments to implement protocols and measures developed by UN agencies to enable safe crew changes. And it also called on such businesses to join forces with industry associations and unions to exert collective pressure.
The joint statement welcomed the efforts undertaken by some companies to address the unparalleled crisis facing maritime workers and appeals to other business enterprises to do the same, noting that the UN Guiding Principles provide the blueprint for this urgently needed engagement from the world’s business community.
Colville said this was “really a hidden crisis.” He added, “These people are at sea. They're living in horrible conditions. You can imagine even the existing standards where you could be onboard ship for up to 11 months is pretty rough if you have a family back home. Many of these ship crew members earn a pittance. But some of them have been stuck on board now for 16-17 months without any kind of ability to go to shore any way. So, it's a really pretty graphically horrible situation.”
Referencing the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Colville said people living in these conditions for such a long time also face safety concerns. He said, “The impact that overly fatigued and mentally exhausted seafarers, you know, of trying to control and run ships in the conditions they’re in. So the safety of navigation… is in peril.”
The spokesperson added that there could be “economic ramifications, too, because the global supply chain absolutely depends on these ships and on their crews. So, you know, there may be just around the corner -- and there are those who believe we may have a major international economic crisis based on the breakdown of the shipping system because of the failure to resolve this problem.”
