Seafarers’ group taps ICT for human rights monitoring

With the rise of Internet usage as a basic human right, a seafarers’ advocacy group in the Philippines held a three-day seminar on information and communications technology (ICT) to help seafarers in reporting human rights and labor abuse cases.

In a statement, the International Seafarers’ Action Center (ISAC) said, “it’s about time” for workers on “the world’s most dangerous site — the sea” to know how to assert their rights via computers and the Internet.

ISAC said the recently-held seminar stemmed from the United Nations’ (UN) recognition of Internet access as a basic human right.

“Through proper computer and Internet use, the seafarers and mariners could get enough information about statutes and other legal instruments that (they) can use later in defending and advancing their rights,” ISAC project coordinator Cristina Tiozon said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site.

Tiozon added that the Internet can be used “to organize the ranks to seafarers, notwithstanding their location and time zones.”

The seminar included ICT training for ISAC coordinators and their dependents, and introductory courses on case handling, reporting of labor-related cases, and chapter management.

Abandoned seafarers

Recently, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) filed a complaint before the International Labor Organization, in behalf of 12 Pinoy seafarers who were abandoned for four months by a Greek-owned vessel in Valencia, Spain.

“We would like the international maritime community to know that we will not allow this kind of maltreatment of Filipino seafarers,” DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in reaction.

The Philippines is known as the “crewing capital of the world”, with Pinoys making up 30 percent of about 1.2 million seafarers worldwide. They chipped in $3.8 billion in remittances last year. — RJMD/ELR/TJD, GMA News