Center for Mariner Advocacy featured on WiMOs Webinar: Supporting Mariners Through Advocacy, Research, and Reform
October 7, 2026
Women in Maritime Operations (WiMOs) recently hosted a timely conversation with Philip C. Schifflin Jr., Esq., Director of the Center for Mariner Advocacy at The Seamen’s Church Institute. The webinar examines the personal, professional, and legal challenges mariners face throughout their careers, with particular attention to the experiences of women working at sea. Drawing on […]
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Center for Mariner Advocacy Welcomes Summer 2026 Intern
April 29, 2026
We are pleased to share that Noah Falk of Tulane Law School has been selected as the Center for Mariner Advocacy’s (CMA) summer intern for 2026. Noah will be the thirty-first intern to serve in this capacity, continuing a longstanding partnership between the Seamen’s Church Institute and Tulane Law School that began in 1993. This […]
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SCI Welcomes ASEAN Delegation to Explore Mariner Advocacy
October 24, 2025
As Director of the Center for Mariner Advocacy, Phil Schifflin Esq. continually seeks opportunities to share SCI’s mission and connect with new partners who are interested in advancing mariner wellbeing. On September 30, Phil hosted nine representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who were in the United States as part of the […]
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CMA Internship Wrap-Up: Leilany Rodriguez Reflects on a Summer of Advocacy
August 23, 2025
For over three decades, the Seamen’s Church Institute’s Center for Mariner Advocacy (CMA) has hosted summer interns from Tulane University School of Law. This summer, CMA was pleased to welcome Leilany Rodriguez to this longstanding program. During her time with CMA, Leilany made meaningful contributions across a range of advocacy, research, and outreach initiatives: Before returning […]
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CMA Director Part of ICMA Delegation at Geneva ILO Meeting
April 10, 2025
SCI’s Center for Mariner Advocacy (CMA) Director, Phil Schifflin, Esq., attended the Fifth Meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee established under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006) at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland from April 7-11, 2025. Representing SCI as a member of the International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) Delegation, Schifflin was one of […]
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CMA Assists with Urgent Repatriation
January 22, 2025
The Center for Mariner Advocacy (CMA) consistently steps in to defend the rights of seafarers facing unfair treatment. A recent case highlighted this commitment when an Indian seafarer was connected to CMA through the assistance of a local seafarer center. His father, battling lung cancer, experienced a serious decline in health, prompting the seafarer to […]
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Schifflin/ICMA Statement Opens ILO-IMO Working Group
November 27, 2024
Yesterday marked the opening of the “Joint ILO–IMO Tripartite Working Group to Identify and Address Seafarers’ Issues and the Human Element” in Geneva, Switzerland. This is the third meeting of this particular ILO (International Labour Organization) and IMO (International Maritime Organization) group, and it is dedicated to discussing and developing guidelines for the fair treatment […]
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CMA Director participates in Maritime Alcohol Misuse Panel
October 21, 2024
At SCI’s Center for Mariner Advocacy (CMA), we regularly engage in discussions focused on mariner health and safety. Recently, the U.S. Coast Guard commissioned the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) to study the role of alcohol use in the maritime industry and its impact on related incidents. In response, NAS initiated a study titled “Prevention, […]
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USCG Personnel Training to Address Mariner Well-Being
September 20, 2024
Phil Schifflin, Jr., Esq. Director, Center for Mariner Advocacy Recently, the Center for Mariner Advocacy has been frequently assisting U.S. Coast Guard personnel who encounter mariners in problematic situations aboard foreign-flagged vessels. Although our advocacy work has mainly involved blue-water and brown-water mariners, my predecessor, Doug Stevenson, and I have previously assisted and trained Coast […]
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Advocating For Seafarer Training Needs
February 29, 2024
Center for Mariner Advocacy Director Phil Schifflin reports from the Recent IMO Sub-Committee Meeting. The tenth session of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW) Sub-Committee met in a hybrid format in London from Feb 5-9, 2024. This meeting was most heavily focused on training-related issues, with the goal of ensuring […]
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