Center for Mariner Advocacy: Elevating Seafarers’ Voices at the IMO
At a recent session at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), maritime welfare leaders delivered a clear message: seafarers need more than regulation—they need real, human support.
Hosted by the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA), the discussion highlighted the critical role of welfare organizations working directly with seafarers in ports around the world. While international frameworks provide essential protections, they cannot fully address the day-to-day realities mariners face.
Representing the Seamen’s Church Institute, Phil Schifflin, Esq., Director of SCI’s Center for Mariner Advocacy, emphasized the growing loss of shore leave. For seafarers who live and work aboard vessels for months at a time, the inability to step ashore is not a minor issue—it is a serious and escalating mental health concern.
Speakers also pointed to emerging challenges, including the pressures facing the first generation of “digital seafarers,” as well as the ongoing crisis of abandonment. Welfare teams continue to respond to crews left unpaid, undersupplied, and stranded, cases that remain alarmingly frequent and demand urgent, coordinated action.
The takeaway was clear: protecting seafarers requires collaboration across governments, industry, and welfare organizations. For the Center for Mariner Advocacy, this work is central—ensuring that seafarers’ voices are heard and their rights upheld, both in policy and in practice.