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The move by the US State Department
to do away with the existing
provision for crew list visas and
requiring foreign seafarers in its
ports to be in possession of their
own valid passport has drawn strong
criticism from the shipping
fraternity.
The international maritime community
has objected to the illiberal
proposals that will condemn large
numbers of seafarers to effective
confinement, aboard their ships in
the 'land of the free'.
"The State Department appears to be
paranoid about the supposed menace
of ships' crews, when there seems no
evidence to suggest that potential
terrorists would ever think of
employing such a slow and
inconvenient means of transport,"
said a shipping industry source.
The industry, which has through
agencies like Bimco, made strong
representations, is concerned both
with the humanitarian aspects of the
crew list visa abolition and the
operational inconveniences.
Seafarers' welfare organisations
have urged the State Department to
reconsider the facts of the matter
Mission to Seafarers, in a letter to
the US government organisation,
calls for a rethink on crew list
visas and emphasises the implicit
inhumanity of the measures, which
treat seafarers as potential
terrorists, when, in reality they
are a valuable defence against
terrorism.
The New York-based Center for
Seafarers' Rights has suggested that
the State Department maintain the
status quo at least for a further
two years, to permit all the work
currently being done by the
International Labour Office in
Geneva on seafarer identification to
come into effect.
Seafarers' rights advocates have
urged the US State Department to
postpone its proposed elimination of
crew list visas for two years to
allow a new seafarers'
identification system to come into
force.
In comments on the State
Department's proposal, the New
York-based Center for Seafarers'
Rights called on the US government
"not to eliminate the most
accessible and utilised means
merchant mariners have for applying
for shore leave until an
internationally acceptable
replacement for an identity document
exists".
The CSR added that "the United
States already places a significant
hardship on foreign merchant
mariners by being the only major
maritime country in the world that
requires crewmember visas at all".
Instead, such crew members seeking
shore leave in the US would need to
carry a valid passport and US visa,
securing which is often cumbersome
as well as costly.
The State Department argued that
scrutiny of applicants for
individual visas is more rigorous
than is the case with crew list visa
applicants. |
