Seafarers’ Welfare: A Critical Review of the Related Legal Issues under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006

Seafarers make a critical contribution to the entire civil society, but their welfare has not addressed sufficient attention in the maritime world. The implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (hereinafter MLC 2006) has made a significant contribution to the improvement of living and working conditions of seafarers. However, seafarers’ welfare is still compromised in many aspects, such as social isolation, fatigue, stresses and feeling that their occupation might be criminalised and targeted in many places around the world. While there is a considerable volume of published work related to shipping and seafarers, the availability of literature specifically on seafarers’ welfare is significantly limited. Bases on the existing knowledge and scholarship available in the public domain, and the primary data collected in several phases of fieldwork, this paper aims to critically review a number of major issues relating to seafarers’ welfare under the regulatory framework of MLC 2006. The paper concludes that a continuous revision in maritime legislation is imperative to reduce incidents of unfair treatment and exploitation of seafarers.