Douglas B. Stevenson, the Director of the Center for Seafarers' Rights of the Seamen's Church Institute, urged delegates attending the week-long meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to place on its agenda review of its protections for persons employed in the workplace of the sea and how member States implement them. He was the only non-government speaker on the agenda. "We need the political will to enforce seafarers' rights guaranteed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea," said Mr. Stevenson. "This meeting should take on matters of substance along with its administrative agenda," Stevenson told the delegates.
