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Seafarers abandoned in Denmark win justice
12 February 2010
Three seafarers who were abandoned in a Danish port last December and who were to be deported after being accused of entering Denmark illegally have had all charges against them dropped.
The seafarers, two Ghanaians and one Russian, had their passports confiscated before they were abandoned on board the St Vincent-flagged Cormorant in Frederiksværk. They had been close to being deported with a criminal record as illegal entrants into Denmark, which would have seriously affected their future job prospects.
Following their abandonment in the port with no wages, food or power the three had until now been dependent on local charities and on the assistance of the ITF. The seafarers are now returning home after the Danish seafarers’ welfare council, Handelsflaaedens Velfaerdsraad, stepped in to cover the cost of repatriation. They are also likely to receive the four months’ wages owed to them once the Cormorant is sold.
ITF seafarers’ section secretary Jon Whitlow commented: “We have been inches away from another case of the unfair criminalisation of seafarers. I am glad to report that the Danish authorities have seen the wisdom of an urgent review of what was planned, and have moved quickly to prevent that injustice from happening.”
ITF inspector Morten Bach who assisted the seafarers said: “To all intents and purposes these men were held as virtual prisoners on the ship. Almost unbelievably they were then charged with having been in Denmark illegally, even though the captain had taken away their passports to stop them escaping from the ship. Had the authorities here not relented, they would have been hit with at least a year’s ban from passing through Danish territory, giving them an EU-wide criminal record. This was utterly unacceptable and that message has been driven home to the Danish authorities, who, I’m glad to say, have now acted to take that message on board.”
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