During the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, a Philippine Government led side event on better protecting seafarers' rights was held during which the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea origins and impact was discussed.
“No one left adrift: Seafarers at the Cross currents of Commerce, Conflict, and Change” was presented and moderated by the Honourable Maria Teresa T. Almojuela, Assistant Secretary, Office of the United Nations and International Organisations.
This was a precursor event to the forthcoming 1-3 September 2025 International Conference on Seafarers’ Human Rights, Safety and Well-being to be held in Manila.
Featuring discussants from the ILO, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Philippines, Governments of Norway, Panama and Indonesia, the discussions aimed to set the context and need for the development of the Philippines-led initiatives around development of human rights protections for seafarers.
This builds upon the issuing of the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers and the 56th Human Rights Council Resolution promoting and protecting the enjoyment of human rights by seafarers co-sponsored by 28 countries and adopted by consensus in July 2024.
Panel Discussion
Executive Director Human Rights at Sea International, David Hammond, spoke on the panel and responded to the question from the Moderator, the Honourable Maria Teresa T. Almojuela.
"Mr Hammond did pioneering work in advancing the universal respect and protraction of human rights of all people living and working in the maritime sphere. In 2019, Mr. Hammond you initiated and launched the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea. What prompted this initiative and how was this received by maritime stakeholders?"
"Madam ambassador, ambassadors, fellow panelists, and friends, thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to speak today. I'd like to recognize the leadership from the [Government of the] Philippines, and the collaborative leadership in the development of human rights at sea for seafarers. I'd also like to thank you for the kind recognition of what has been a decade of very hard work by civil society around the issue of human rights at sea.
[There are] two parts to the question:
What prompted the initiative?
Well, human rights apply at sea, as they do on land. Those 10 words are critically important. They are not just the founding principle, but the core principle of all of our work in civil society and with states since 2013. Actually, in 2013/2014, if you had typed those four words, human rights at sea, into any global internet search engine, it might surprise the people in this room today and online that virtually nothing existed explicitly talking about human rights at sea.
The Geneva Declaration for Human Rights at Sea started life in Mumbai, India, in February 2019. That was part of what I would say was, the first state-level conceived conference explicitly talking about human rights at sea. On our return from Mumbai, we realized that we needed to draft and submit for legal review, a [baseline] document. The scope for that document was for all persons living, working, and transiting at sea. Obviously, a very broad scope, and we estimate, and it is an estimation, that 30 million people live, work, transit, and operate at sea every single day. That is a small to medium-sized country. That was the basis of our coalescence of [producing] the document.
It was first drafted in the student canteen at the Geneva Institute, so we thank them for that! Importantly, at state level, it provides no new legal obligations on states. It's aligned to existing national and international human rights law and succinctly explains the need for human rights protections at sea. When we look at the Geneva Declaration as a voluntary document, it's about assisting driving the soft law and customary approach to increasing protections for human rights at sea, including for seafarers. It supports the common language approach on a topic within [what is] a very diverse international community, and it upholds, and it respects the international rule of law, which of course, [and] today as we speak, is being tested in its extremes.
The second part of my question was, how was it [the Geneva Declaration] received by maritime stakeholders?
Well, best of all, we are speaking about it here today, six years on, and that proves that indirect and often subtle impact, influence, and osmosis to a potential normative approach by states is possible..."
Download the full text of the intervention:
Panel:
H.E. Ms. Doreen DEBRUM - Government of the Marshall Islands
Mr Rangga Yudha NAGARA – Indonesian Government
Mr. Martin TORBERGSEN – Minister Consular, Government of Norway
Ms. Griselle del Carmen RODRIGUEZ RAMIREZ – Counsellor of Panama
Ms. Beatriz VACOTTO – Head of Maritime, ILO, Geneva
Mr. David Hammond – Executive Director, HRAS International
ENDS.
Source: Human Rights at Sea
Image: Photo Credit: Mission of the Government of the Philippines, Geneva.
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