On February 18, 2019 there was held a meeting with the cadets of the National University “Odessa Maritime Academy” and the Maritime College of Technical Fleet of the NU “OMA”, initiated by the MTWTU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The event gathered together about 150 future seafarers and was dedicated to prevention of seafarers’ involvement into crimes at sea. The cadets received recommendations on how to avoid and how to defend themselves in such a distress.
In addition, they have been given specially-developed Union’s pre-employment checklists that hopefully would help them secure their employment onboard a foreign vessel.
Vasyl Kyrylych, Head of Department of Consular Support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also contributed to the meeting: he familiarized the cadets with the functions of the MFA’s Consular Service Department and the area of its competence – how the Department can help protecting Ukrainian seafarers in distress.
At the meeting, the joint MTWTU&MFA Project was also presented. Launched in 2018, the Project is aimed at preventing seafarers’ involvement in maritime crimes and securing their right to fair treatment during criminal proceedings, pre-trial detention and in penitentiary institutions.
