Survey: 28% of Seafarers Were Charged Illegal Recruitment Fees

New research has found that of almost 5,000 seafarers surveyed, almost 40% have experienced at least one form of unethical or illegal action in violation of international standards relating to worker rights either during the recruitment process or while working at sea.

The research report was published by the Institute for Human Rights and Business and Sustainable Shipping Initiative and is based on surveyed data obtained between September 2022 and February 2023.

The findings include that 70% (around 1,400 of the 5,000, or 28%) of seafarers who have experienced violations of their workers’ rights say they were either charged recruitment or were victims of fake job offers after making advance payments. The large majority did not report it, because in most cases because they didn’t know how to.

India and Nigeria were frequently cited as countries where payment of recruitment fees occurred. Requests for recruitment fees was also high in Ukraine and the Philippines, reflecting the high proportion of seafarers globally from these countries.

The great majority of instances occurred in the last two years. Close to half of those who refused to pay recruitment fees reported being blackmailed by the manning agency which threatened to spread negative references about them to other agencies.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has been active in exposing corrupt manning agencies and has created an online reporting service. Mission to Seafarers is also active on the issue with Liverpool John Moores University. In India, ISWAN has been working with local partners to campaign against fraudulent crewing agencies.

The Maritime Labour Convention prohibits the charging of recruitment fees because the subsequent debt burden on seafarers can be a significant factor in the risk of forced labour.

“With 90% of world trade carried by sea, there is almost no company immune from needing to carry out due diligence on this issue - from the shipping industry itself to commodity companies and highstreet brands,” states the report.

“To minimise the risk of forced labour among seafarers, the shipping industry and its customers must work collectively to tackle this issue of illegal recruitment fees being charged to seafarers and seek an industry-wide shift to the ‘Employer Pays Principle’ whereby no worker is paying the costs of their own recruitment.”