Seafarers' Trust celebrates 30 years with welfare event in London

News Release International Transport Federation (ITF) March 24, 2012

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE></TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=unicode" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19190"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust will
celebrate its 30th birthday with a conference in London tomorrow
exploring how best to provide for the welfareneeds of the world’s seafarers in
the 21st century. The event will share the experiences of the welfare
community, unions and shipping industry, and explore new ways of helping
seafarers.
 
The Seafarers Welfare Matters
seminar will take place from 13:30 to 17:00 at Church House, 27 Great Smith
Street, London W1 (<A
href="redir.aspx?C=25dc4b4008044d8fa39fa97e6dcdf88a&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.churchhouseconf.co.uk"
target=_blank>www.churchhouseconf.co.uk</A>). There are still a few places free
for press and interested parties – please send an email to <A
href="redir.aspx?C=25dc4b4008044d8fa39fa97e6dcdf88a&URL=mailto%3aseminarbooking%40itf.org.uk">seminarbooking@itf.org.uk</A> if you want to
attend.
 
Tom Holmer,
administrative officer of the Seafarers’ Trust, commented: “The Trust has 30
years of experience to draw on and a superb network of people we’ve worked with
who are leaders in this field, and many of them will be here
tomorrow.”
 
He continued:
“Legislative, social and technical factors mean that seafarers’ needs are
changing, and we have to be ready to change to meet them. The much hoped for
ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, for example, will throw up new
challenges and opportunities for welfare providers, and this will be firmly on
the agenda.”
 
Roy Paul, programme manager of the
Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme, and Seafarers’ Trust assistant
administrative officer, added: “This event will draw on and share the knowledge
built up over the last three decades, right up to the recent experience of the
Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme - which is addressing the
profound human cost of modern piracy - and the lessons of other recent events.
We are pleased to be able to host the launch of the Apostleship of the Sea’s
report on working with cruise ship crews, which includes the pastoral aid
offered to those on board the Costa Concordia after its
sinking.”
 
 
 
 
The Seafarers’ Trust is the charity
arm of the International Transport Workers’ Federation.
 
The Seafarers Welfare Matters
seminar will explore the following topics and issues:
 
 
 First
Session: Why MLC2006 is important and what it means in
practice
 
Why the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 is important to seafarers’
welfare
Tim
Springett, head of employment, UK Chamber of Shipping.
 
Why is seafarers’ welfare important to the maritime
industry
Natalie
Shaw, secretary, International Shipping Federation (ISF)
 
Why is seafarers’ welfare important to port authorities
TBC
 
Welfare is a human or legal right
Deidre
Fitzpatrick, director, Seafarers Rights International (SRI)
 
Welfare is about wellbeing
Hennie La Grange, general secretary of the International
Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) 
 
 
Second
Session: Welfare at the sharp end
 
What a difference funding makes
Roger
Harris ICSW (International Committee for Seafarers Welfare)
 
Welfare services in the seafarers’ centre.
Jan
Oltmanns, director of DuckdalbenSeafarers Centre, Hamburg -
German Seamens Mission
 
Welfare services on board passenger ships.
Fr Giacomo Martino, coordinator for Apostleship of the Sea in
Italy (with reference to the Costa Concordia)
 
Welfare and Health – the Seafarers Health Information Programme
(SHIP)
Dr Suresh
Indani, president, International Maritime Health Association
(IMHA)
 
Welfare when things go wrong.
Roy
Paul, ITF Seafarers’ Trust/Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response
Programme
 </DIV></BODY></HTML>