9月11日，旨在維護全球船員和漁民權益的海員權益國際組織（Seafarers\\\\\\\' Rights International, SRI）最近在其官網刊文，呼籲國際社會關注海員、重視海員，將海員視為疫情期的關鍵工作者。請看全文。
研究海事和海員相關法規的國際泛行業機構——海員權益國際組織（SRI）說，最近發生的海員嚴重傷亡事件並不能簡單地視作運氣不好。報告指出，在COVID-19大流行期間，未能將海員當作關鍵工作人員正在給海員個人帶來毀滅性影響，這些海員現在正陷入延長勞動合同、事故增多、傷亡增多以及不公正的刑事調查等所帶來的困境中。
The recent spate of grim casualties cannot simply be written off as bad luck, says Seafarers』 Rights International (SRI), the international pan-industry body researching maritime and seafarers』 law. It points out that the failure to treat seafarers as keyworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic is having devastating effects on individuals, who are now at risk of being caught in a perfect storm of exhaustion from extended employment agreements, increasing numbers of accidents, maritime casualties, and unfair criminal investigations.
8月，日本貨輪擱淺模里西斯，引發生態災難，印度籍船長或坐牢60年，印度船員組織呼籲公正判決。
SRI執行董事Deirdre Fitzpatrick說：「大家對各種海上事故的回應似乎都在指責海員。但重點應該放在行業如何應對近期這些傷亡事故上。對於這些事故，COVID-19是否產生了一定的影響？是否能夠按照IMO安全調查規則的要求對海上事故進行公平的調查，以便可以吸取教訓，以防止再次發生類似事故？」
「The response to this seems to be to blame the seafarer,」 says Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of SRI. 「The spotlight should be on how the industry responds to these recent casualties. Has COVID-19 played a part in these situations? Will there be fair investigations – as mandatorily required under the IMO Code for Safety Investigations – so lessons can be learned to prevent further tragic loss of seafarers』 lives and damage to the marine environment?」
SRI 董事會主席 Brian Orrell 曾代表海員們參加了 IMO / ILO（國際海事組織/國際勞工組織）的聯合談判，該談判最終制定了《發生海事事故時公平對待海員的準則》以及《海事勞工公約》，他說：「從現在起，我們就應該公平對待海員。在發生傷亡事故後公平地對待海員，這是必須遵循的一個準則，即使是在如今的困難時期。「
Brian Orrell, OBE, Chairman of the Board of SRI, who led the seafarers in the joint IMO/ILO negotiations that produced the Guidelines on the Fair Treatment of Seafarers in the Event of a Maritime Accident and in the negotiations that resulted in the Maritime Labour Convention, agrees: 「If there ever was a time for fair treatment of seafarers, that time is now. Fair treatment of seafarers following casualties and in working conditions are based on international standards that must be followed even in very difficult times,」 he says.
在最近的海難事故中，有一艘在巴拿馬籍散貨船「若潮號」在模里西斯南部的珊瑚礁上擱淺，洩漏了大約1000噸油，還導致負責清理工作的一艘拖輪上的2名船員喪生。而模里西斯政府的第一反應卻是逮捕「若潮號」的船長和大副。
Amongst the recent wave of casualties was the Panamanian-registered bulk carrier Wakashio which ran aground on a coral reef south of Mauritius, spilling an estimated 1000 tonnes of oil and ultimately leading to the death of two members of the tugboat involved in the oil spill clean-up. An early response from the Government of Mauritius has been to arrest the Captain and the Chief Officer.
「若潮號」船長Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar
然後是9月初，颱風「美莎克」導致巴拿馬籍運牛船「Gulf Livestock 1」翻沉，40名船員和近6,000頭牛失蹤。不久，又有一艘巴拿馬籍油輪 「New Diamond」 的機艙發生爆炸並起火，導致1名菲律賓籍船員喪生，1人受傷。
Then early in September, the Panamanian-registered vessel, Gulf Livestock 1, was tragically lost with around 40 crew members and nearly 6,000 cattle in Typhoon Maysak. This news came as firefighting crews from Sri Lanka and India were working to put out a large blaze aboard the Panamanian-registered oil tanker, New Diamond. One Filipino crew member died, and one was injured in the engine room explosion that sparked the fire.
運牛船「Gulf Livestock 1」上失蹤的部分船員
被大火燒的面目全非的油輪「New Diamond」
SRI諮詢委員會成員ITF（國際運輸工人聯盟）海員分會主席 Dave Heindel 和 ITF海事協調員 Jacqueline Smith 曾多次警告人們注意COVID-19的「毒」副作用、海員疲勞和海上安全：「這些遇難的海員們應重新讓我們反思航運業最『臭名昭著』的安全缺陷之一，即減少事故舉報數量和對海員傷亡事件調查拖拉或根本不調查。」
SRI Advisory Board Member Dave Heindel, Chairman of the ITF Seafarers』 Section, and Jacqueline Smith, the ITF Maritime Coordinator have repeatedly warned against the toxic effects of COVID-19, fatigue and safety at sea: 「These maritime casualties should re-ignite the debate on how serious the industry is about reducing the number of reported shipping incidents and tackling slow or non-existent investigations into maritime casualties, one of the industry’s most notorious safety shortcomings.
「如今海員們的上岸休假和陸上醫療大幅縮水，而上船時間卻一直延長，這違反了《海事勞工公約》中海員的權利，還會導致慢性疲勞，使得海員的安全和海洋環境的保護面臨更大的風險和挑戰。」
「Massive decreases in shore leave and onshore medical treatment are being accompanied by inordinate periods of service on board contrary to rights of seafarers under the Maritime Labour Convention. This leads to chronic fatigue. And that exposes the safety of crews and the protection of the marine environment to much greater risks.」
文章來源：船的那些事