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Maritime industry to address sexual assault and harassment
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/02/20 14:27:03
SEAMEN'S Church Institute president Mark Nestlehutt declared sexual assault, and sexual harassment (SASH) in maritime has been a focus for the institute, reports UK's Seatrade Maritime News.
Mr Nestlehutt stated the issue came into focus two years ago when cadets and midshipmen came forward to report cases of sexual assault and rape aboard vessels.
The issue was picked up by the institute, and the US Maritime Administration is trying to figure out how to address the problem.
"But it's not just an issue in the US. If you go to an IMO meeting or an ILO meeting, one of the concerns is sexual assaults, sexual harassment, answering questions like what kind of training needs there are, what sort of teeth there needs to be in any sort of enforcement, and how they would go about doing that," said Mr Nestlehutt.
The Seamen's Church Institute played a role in promoting the issue of shore leave provision for mariners in 2014.
Mr Nestlehutt hopes the institute can play a guiding role in tackling SASH issues and supporting work at the IMO, ILO, and the US Coast Guard.
Mr Nestlehutt stated the issue is to the detriment of the entire industry to tackle the challenges of attracting and retaining talent.
"If you're really talking about crew recruitment and retention, do you really want to have an industry that basically excludes 50 per cent of the workforce, because it's considered an unsafe environment or a hostile environment for them to work in?" said Mr Nestlehutt.
"At the Seamen's Church, one of the things we really advocated for along with other organizations is universal internet access for all mariners. I think some shipping executives or government agencies might hear that and think seafarers want to be able to stream Netflix while they're on vessels," said Mr Nestlehutt.
"Quite frankly, what universal internet access provides is the ability to be in contact with your family. It provides the ability to activate and utilise a lot of these new shore-to-ship services around mental health and counseling."
Mr Nestlehutt stated the issue came into focus two years ago when cadets and midshipmen came forward to report cases of sexual assault and rape aboard vessels.
The issue was picked up by the institute, and the US Maritime Administration is trying to figure out how to address the problem.
"But it's not just an issue in the US. If you go to an IMO meeting or an ILO meeting, one of the concerns is sexual assaults, sexual harassment, answering questions like what kind of training needs there are, what sort of teeth there needs to be in any sort of enforcement, and how they would go about doing that," said Mr Nestlehutt.
The Seamen's Church Institute played a role in promoting the issue of shore leave provision for mariners in 2014.
Mr Nestlehutt hopes the institute can play a guiding role in tackling SASH issues and supporting work at the IMO, ILO, and the US Coast Guard.
Mr Nestlehutt stated the issue is to the detriment of the entire industry to tackle the challenges of attracting and retaining talent.
"If you're really talking about crew recruitment and retention, do you really want to have an industry that basically excludes 50 per cent of the workforce, because it's considered an unsafe environment or a hostile environment for them to work in?" said Mr Nestlehutt.
"At the Seamen's Church, one of the things we really advocated for along with other organizations is universal internet access for all mariners. I think some shipping executives or government agencies might hear that and think seafarers want to be able to stream Netflix while they're on vessels," said Mr Nestlehutt.
"Quite frankly, what universal internet access provides is the ability to be in contact with your family. It provides the ability to activate and utilise a lot of these new shore-to-ship services around mental health and counseling."