Ship Register Meeting
NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE
Celtic League which is a UN accredited NGO has been focused for sometime on maritime issues and the conditions experienced by mariners on the multiplicity of shipping registers around the world.
We have liaised with New York Times journalist, Ian Urbina, who has over the past several months been producing the ?Outlaw Ocean? series of articles. Ian has uncovered an astonishing catalogue of abuse suffered by seafarers of all types and has stimulated a wave of support for action to improve matters including an intervention from US Secretary of State, John Kerry. (see links):
(There are a range of additional items just type Urbina into the search box on the site)
We have also had extensive correspondence with both the International Labour Organisation and the International Maritime Organisation on the issue ? again these links can be accessed using the search facility on the main Celtic League site:
Closer to home the Isle of Man has an extensive and growing ship register which fortunately does not experience some of the extreme abuses Ian Urbina found during his research.
Last year we queried the Department of economic Development about the register and our query and their response are set out below;
Today I took up on the offer from Industry Minister at the DED Laurence Skelly to meet and discuss some of the issues with him and registry staff. It was a positive and constructive meeting and I reiterated some of the issues previously highlighted in correspondence and sought additional clarification.
In addition to the Isle of Man initiative the League has over the past 12 months pressed both the UK and Irish governments to improve protection particularly for migrant labour employed in the fishing industry.
The issue is likely to feature as an agenda item in reports at the Celtic League AGM in Dublin at Easter.
Related: Ian Urbina series of articles for the New York Times can be found at this link:
BERNARD MOFFATT
Issued by: The Celtic News
15/01/16
THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.
The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues
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