Many would look at seafarers’ rights in terms of compliance or non-compliance with ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, and other laws. Such a view is rather narrow. For one, what is not explicity prohibited by law can be considered unacceptable because it is detrimental to a person’s well-being and dignity.
A better way is to regard seafarers’ rights as a moral issue, a question of right and wrong. Seen in this perspective, the rights and welfare of those who work at sea become a matter of conscience, not something imposed from without. By appealing to man’s innate moral sense, we can all go beyond the limitations and infirmities of conventions and statutes.
Clearly, it is morally wrong to use maritime cadets as unpaid office workers and domestic servants. The same is true with skimming money from the remittances of seafarers. These two practices are rampant among manning agents in Manila. Yet, there is no mention of them in MLC 2006 or in the much-ballyhooed Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers.
In light of all this, one question begs to be answered: how many who deal with seafarers would place morals above money and just do what is right? “Faced with what is right yet doing nothing about it ,” Confucius reminds us in The Analects, “shows a lack of courage.”
~ Barista Uno
