Sexual harassment at sea can affect women, men, and crew members of any gender. It can be committed by a supervisor, coworker, passenger, contractor, officer, or another person encountered through work. Rank, isolation, shared accommodation, contract insecurity, and distance from home can make reporting especially difficult.

Unwanted conduct is not a normal price of working onboard. A person does not have to accept sexual comments, pressure, touching, threats, or demands in exchange for promotion, schedules, cabins, evaluations, continued employment, or other benefits.

What Can Sexual Harassment Look Like?

Examples can include:

  • unwanted sexual comments, jokes, gestures, or questions;
  • repeated invitations after a clear refusal;
  • sexual messages, images, calls, or online stalking;
  • unwanted touching, blocking movement, or invading private space;
  • demands for sexual conduct linked to promotion, evaluation, schedule, cabin, or contract;
  • threats or punishment after rejection;
  • spreading sexual rumours or humiliating images;
  • a hostile environment created by persistent sexualised conduct.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault are not identical. Assault involves non-consensual sexual contact or acts and may require urgent medical, forensic, security, and law-enforcement action.

If You Are in Immediate Danger

Move to a safe location if possible. Contact ship security, a trusted officer, the master, medical personnel, or appropriate emergency authorities. If the alleged harasser controls your normal reporting line, use an alternative channel.

During shore leave, hotel stays, or port calls, local emergency services and police may be relevant. ICR is not a substitute for emergency or law-enforcement response.

Medical and Psychological Care

Seek medical care after unwanted contact, injury, suspected drugging, or assault. Ask about time-sensitive testing, treatment, pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted infection prevention, toxicology, and forensic evidence where appropriate.

Psychological symptoms are also health concerns. Anxiety, fear, panic, sleep disturbance, depression, dissociation, and trauma deserve professional care and documentation.

Preserve Evidence

Depending on the incident, preserve:

  • messages, emails, call logs, voice notes, and social-media contact;
  • photographs of injuries or damaged property;
  • clothing or other potential forensic evidence;
  • names and contact details of witnesses or people told soon afterward;
  • work schedules, cabin assignments, access-card information, and CCTV requests;
  • earlier complaints about the same person;
  • medical, security, and incident reports;
  • evidence of retaliation after reporting.

Do not edit original screenshots or delete messages after making a copy. Send backups to a secure location or trusted person when safe.

Write a Contemporaneous Account

Record the date, time, location, people present, exact words or actions, your response, and what happened next. Include who you informed and when. Trauma can affect memory, so write what you genuinely remember without filling gaps with guesses.

Where Can You Report?

Possible channels include:

  • ship security or the master;
  • a designated harassment, ethics, or human-resources channel;
  • the onboard complaint procedure;
  • the company’s shoreside designated person;
  • a union representative or ITF inspector;
  • the flag-state administration;
  • port-state or local law-enforcement authorities;
  • an independent maritime lawyer.

Which channel is safest and legally appropriate depends on the incident, location, accused person, vessel flag, and urgency.

What If the Harasser Is Your Supervisor or a Senior Officer?

Do not route a complaint only through the person accused or someone directly controlled by them. Use the alternative reporting paths in the employment agreement, company policy, MLC complaint procedure, union information, or vessel notices.

Record any attempt to prevent reporting, isolate you, alter your schedule, threaten your contract, or pressure witnesses.

Retaliation After Reporting

Retaliation can include poor evaluations, demotion, undesirable shifts, cabin changes, discipline, threats, blacklisting, non-renewal, or dismissal. Protections vary by law and contract, so avoid broad assumptions—but document every adverse action and its timing.

International Standards and Contracts

MLC occupational safety and complaint frameworks, company policies, national laws, collective agreements, and ITF standards may all be relevant. An ITF-approved CBA may include protections against harassment and bullying. Read Crew Member Rights Under ITF Agreements.

What Not to Do

  • Do not confront the person alone if it creates danger.
  • Do not delete messages because they are embarrassing.
  • Do not sign an inaccurate statement or confidentiality agreement without understanding it.
  • Do not assume an internal investigation is the only possible process.
  • Do not publish identifying details that could endanger you, compromise evidence, or expose survivors.

How ICR Can Support You

ICR can help organise the timeline, identify evidence and reporting questions, and connect the crew member with appropriate independent maritime legal support. The broader process is described in Help and Support for Crew Members After an Injury at Sea.

If physical injury, medical treatment, repatriation, or employment documents are also involved, use the crew-member incident guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does harassment have to involve physical contact?

No. Unwanted verbal, written, visual, digital, or coercive conduct can be harassment.

Can a passenger sexually harass a crew member?

Yes. The employer’s response, security measures, and protection of the worker may be relevant.

What if I initially stayed silent or continued working?

Delay does not mean the conduct was welcome. Fear, shock, rank, and contract pressure can affect reporting. Document the reason and seek support.

Can I report after leaving the ship?

Yes, although evidence and deadlines may become harder with time. Preserve documents and obtain advice promptly.

This article provides general information. Reporting duties, criminal law, employment protections, and civil remedies differ by jurisdiction.