[STATEMENT] Seafarers, fight for dignity, rights and welfare! Build unity between land and sea! Stand in solidarity with seafarers!
International Migrants Alliance and Pacific Coast Coalition for Seafarers 2026 International Day of the Seafarer Statement
This June 25, 2026 marks International Day of the Seafarer, where seafarers’ vital contributions to the world economy and immense sacrifices as migrants at sea are recognized. As the International Migrants Alliance & Pacific Coast Coalition for Seafarers, we call attention to the conditions of poverty, unemployment, and displacement in countries caused by neoliberal policies that force more and more workers to take up seafaring. Seafaring is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world with more than 2,000 deaths a year at sea, where seafarers spend months at a time far away from their families back in their homelands, often with unreliable connection or ability to access needed services for their health.
In 2025 alone, 6,223 seafarers and 410 vessels were abandoned, a 20.4% increase from 2024. The year also saw $25.8 million in stolen wages owed, a 28% increase. Compounded with vanishing shore leave opportunities, unsafe working conditions due to systemic noncompliance with international standards, inadequate access to food and clean drinking water, and chronically long work hours with little rest, the industry remains rife with exploitation and neglect.
Seafarers have also been besieged by the perils of global conflict, with attacks on more than 40 merchant vessels in the US-Israeli imperialist war against Iran, which has violently disrupted key trade routes and jeopardized the safety and welfare of crews passing in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Most recently, on June 11, 3 Indian seafarers, Aditya Sharma, Shivanand Chaurasia, Patnala Suresh, were killed in the U.S. Navy precision strike on the MT Settebello.
The U.S. military’s attacks against foreign-flagged commercial vessels are unconscionable acts of aggression, and cannot continue with impunity. We urge the home governments of affected seafarers to issue diplomatic protest against U.S. military aggression, and to protect their nationals through repatriation and the diversion of vessels, and to demand accountability for harm. We stand in solidarity with the many impacted seafarers, and uphold their right to refuse to sail in warlike operations and high risk areas, demanding a global shipping industry that prioritizes their lives over profit.
In U.S. ports, seafarers have been the targets of the lawless and fascist immigration enforcement raids of the Trump administration. Since 2025, more than 200 Filipino seafarers have been unjustly targeted, detained and deported in CBP raids on Carnival cruise ships, with sweeps of vessels still ongoing. All have been denied due process, and have had their visas revoked despite CBP issuing no charges against them.
PCCS and the International Migrants Alliance condemns these cowardly attacks, and stands in solidarity with the affected seafarers bravely fighting back with the International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC), standing up against this discrimination and inhumane treatment and demanding accountability and action from the Philippine Government.
On this International Day of the Seafarer, while we see everyday the exploitation, neglect and inhumane conditions that seafarers continue to endure, our resolve is all the more strengthened by the many seafarers we have seen take up the fight to change their conditions and to demand a just world. Today, we are proud to stand alongside seafarers, because it is only through the sustained and ever-growing courage and collective struggle of seafarers themselves for their dignity, rights and welfare that a better world will be won!
We ask our community to continue with us in building unity between land and sea, fighting in solidarity with seafarers. Join PCCS for ship visits, organize a care package day with us, or join the coalition as a member! Join the International Migrants Alliance, leading a global movement of migrants, refugees, and displaced peoples fighting for dignity and justice!
Learn more on how to join the IMA here: wearemigrants.net
You can also donate to help PCCS continue to meet our operational needs - as a grassroots organization, we are sustained by the support of our community, and every contribution is appreciated!
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