The ILO adopts a Resolution on Financial Security in cases of the Abandonment of Seafarers 

In one of our previous posts ( https://iistl.blog/2022/04/13/financial-security-in-cases-of-abandonment-a-four-month-limit-for-unpaid-seafarers-wages%ef%bf%bc/ ), we considered some of the issues that emerge from the operation of Standard A2.5.2 of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006, as amended, on financial security in cases of the abandonment of seafarers. In particular, we looked at paragraph 9 of this Standard which requires that the coverage provided by the financial security system when seafarers are abandoned by shipowners shall be limited to four months of any such outstanding wages and four months of any such outstanding entitlements. In this regard, we highlighted, inter alia, the inadequacy of the fourth month limit to accommodate the needs of seafarers when a case of abandonment is not resolved in time.  

Only a few months ago, during the second part of the fourth meeting of the Special Tripartite Committee, the possibility of extending the minimum coverage afforded by the current financial security system from four months to eight months was considered following a proposal from the seafarers’ group of representatives. While the proposal was not supported by the representatives of the shipowners’ group and the representatives of the Governments’ group, mainly because of the risks faced by the insurers, a joint resolution was adopted. The latter called for the establishment of a working group under the auspice of the Special Tripartite Committee to discuss the financial security system required under Standard A2.5.2 of the MLC, 2006, as amended, with a view to making recommendations on potential improvements that would make the system more effective and sustainable, as well as ensure a greater degree of protection and assistance for abandoned seafarers.  

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Dr Zoumpoulia Amaxilati

I am a lecturer in shipping and trade law at the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University where I teach Admiralty law, Charterparties: law and practice, Carriage of goods by sea, land and air, and Tort law. I am a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and hold an LLM degree in Maritime Law from the University of Southampton. I also completed my PhD degree in maritime law with emphasis on seafarers’ rights at the University of Southampton in 2019. Before joining the Institute, I worked as a lecturer in law at Queen Mary, University of London where I taught tort law. I was also a tutor in law at the University of Southampton. I am a qualified lawyer in Greece and prior to her PhD studies I worked as a lawyer at the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights of Greece. My primary research focuses on international maritime labour law and seafarers’ rights, international maritime law, public international law, including international law of the sea, and tort law. I have recently published a book chapter in Baris Soyer and Andrew Tettenborn (Ed), Disruptive Technologies, Climate Change and Shipping (Informa Law from Routledge) on the human element in autonomous shipping. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am also a member of the Society of Legal Scholars and the Women in Shipping and Trading Association.

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