InterManager Outlook: We must stop treating seafarers as the easiest people to blame

By Capt. Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General, InterManager and Senior Fellow, COPE

When something goes wrong at sea, the first question should always be ‘what happened?’

Too often, however, the first response is ‘who can we blame?’

Increasingly, that answer is the seafarer.

As a panellist in a recent webinar hosted by the Centre for Ocean Policy & Economics (COPE), where I serve as a Senior Fellow, I joined legal experts, policymakers and maritime leaders to discuss one of the shipping industry's most pressing human rights challenges: the growing criminalisation of seafarers. The discussion reinforced what many of us have witnessed for years – that professional seafarers are too often detained, investigated or prosecuted despite acting in good faith and having little or no control over the circumstances that led to an incident.

Consider the case of a Chief Officer who discovered drugs hidden in a cargo of coal. He did exactly what he was trained to do, immediately reporting the discovery to the authorities. He was assured the drugs had been removed before the vessel sailed. Yet when more drugs were found at the discharge port, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Imagine arresting an airline pilot because a passenger was carrying narcotics in their luggage. It would be unthinkable, yet this is the reality some seafarers face.

At InterManager, we have spent the last few years building one of the industry's few dedicated databases tracking cases of seafarer criminalisation. The evidence shows this is not confined to one or two jurisdictions. It is a global issue, with cases continuing to emerge across Europe, the Americas, Asia and beyond.

The problem is becoming more acute as shipping grows increasingly complex. Organised crime is exploiting global supply chains, while digitalisation and automation have created new vulnerabilities. Governments are right to investigate these crimes, but too often investigations are carried out by authorities with limited maritime expertise, leading to crews becoming convenient targets before the facts have been fully established.

This has profound consequences. Seafarers can spend months, even years, detained far from home, separated from their families and navigating unfamiliar legal systems with limited access to independent legal advice. The impact extends well beyond the individual, leaving families facing financial uncertainty and emotional distress while receiving little information about what is happening.

If a company sends an employee into a working environment, it should stand behind them when something goes wrong. That means providing legal support, maintaining communication with families and ensuring practical assistance throughout any investigation. Families should never be left facing weeks or months of uncertainty without information or support.

However, the solution extends beyond individual companies.

COPE's recently published White Paper argues that existing international frameworks do not provide consistent protections for seafarers facing criminal investigations and calls for an international treaty establishing minimum standards for due process, including access to independent legal counsel, translation services, family contact and safeguards against prolonged detention. It also proposes creating a global maritime observatory to improve transparency, collect reliable data and identify trends that can help shape fairer legal frameworks.

These proposals are not about weakening law enforcement - governments must investigate crime and hold those responsible to account.

But justice depends on fairness. If shipping is a global industry governed by international rules, then the men and women who keep global trade moving deserve internationally recognised standards of treatment when things go wrong.

Protecting seafarers' rights is not just a human rights issue, it is fundamental to maintaining confidence in the rule of law, supporting the future maritime workforce and ensuring a resilient global shipping industry.