Nautilus director of legal services Charles Boyle shares a year of legal highlights with Rob Coston – from defending members involved in maritime incidents to winning millions in compensation, and establishing essential new rights for seafarers worldwide
ROB COSTON (RC): At the international level, the Maritime Labour Convention is a living instrument that guarantees certain rights for seafarers. There's been a raft of updates this year – can you outline those?
CHARLES BOYLE (CB): This year, we went to Geneva as part of the ITF delegation and participated in formulating the 2025 amendments to the MLC. These include many important new rights such as improved access to shore leave;designation of seafarers as keyworkers; and recognition within the convention that stakeholders must take account of the ILO-IMO Guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes – it was really good to get that in there as the guidelines themselves are very new.
There's many references in the MLC now to address issues of violence and harassment, including sexual harassment, bullying and sexual assault.
Also, the protection from victimisation for making MLC complaints has been extended to not just the complainant themselves, but to include victims, witnesses and whistleblowers. So I'm very much looking forward to that, also in terms of international work.
All of these will come into force in December 2027.
RC: Am I right in thinking that these amendments...
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