Indian Seamen Trapped
There are three questions that should be asked here. WHAT Is happening, WHY is it happening and HOW is it to be resolved.
THE WHAT we know. Our seamen have been left stranded. It is a travesty and a human rights offense bordering on slavery.. An ancillary thought occurred to me. Why is this happening with Indian sailors .. why not seamen from the US, UK, Denmark etc
The WHY is an interesting issue. It happens because the entire “chain of profit” that drives this process and begins and ends with our seaman landing up in these near slavery situations, is because the middlemen all along the way between the seamen, (employees) and the employers, (the shippers) are not prosecuted.
This is a something that needs addressing by two classes of organizations
Firstly the Indian missions abroad, who must come to the aid of the sailors, (it answers the question of why this does not happen to seamen from the US the UK or other western countries) and
Secondly the civil service in India and the attorney General, are not geared up or do not see the need to prosecute the middlemen who organize these contracts.
In contractual law, arguably these seamen would have absolutely no way of contacting the owners of ship companies across the globe. There would be recruitment agents in India finding them. By law due diligence on whether this job is a genuine offer or not has to be undertaken by the recruiting agent, since the employee himself is not even aware of the existence of these employers
THE HOW to fix this has several recourses
Firstly This makes the case for the government in India to immediately hold every single one of these company agents involved responsible.
And secondly, there is the issue of human rights and for which there is recourse available all over the world. Our top end international human rights lawyers I’m sure would be able to throw some light on this aspect.
Abuses that rate as human rights abuse on an international scale are all prosecuted across the board through the offices of the Hague. Once again Indian missions abroad need to be cognizant of such offences and go straight to bat for our sailors. The foreign service has many missions abroad, but a key responsibility is that they hold is to look after its citizens abroad.
I mean, all of us have seen movies of American citizens somehow managing to find their way to the gates of the US Embassy and into the arms of a Marine, standing over there. It is the job of our missions to step in and bring our people back. And if necessary, fight the conditions for their release.
Meanwhile in India the attorney general should prosecute these agents all along the chain of profit that trap these sailors into the conditions they find themselves. And let the human rights systems, prosecute the people internationally all along the chain of command.
It is no point touting ourselves as the next world Power if we cannot look after the most vulnerable of our citizens abroad. It’s time for a little reflection. This incident showcases exactly the kind of problems that we need to address if we are to stake our claim to membership at the top of the table of nations.
