The 2025 Guidelines are intended to ensure proper legal process, reinforce and protect existing human rights, and ensure that seafarers are treated fairly and with dignity when detained in connection with alleged crimes. While not binding, the guidelines compile in one document relevant standards already found in international law and provide important guidance for states, shipowners and seafarers in cases of criminalisation involving seafarers. In addition they are based on, and are to be read in line with, the  principles, rights and obligations  already found in the Maritime Labour Convention 2006, as amended (MLC 2006).

Ensuring the fair treatment of seafarers has been a long-standing agenda item at the IMO and ILO and is an issue ICS actively engages on. The Guidelines build on the 2006 guidelines on the fair treatment of seafarers in the event of a maritime accident previously agreed following collaboration between IMO and ILO. The 2006 guidelines were developed in response to growing concern about the number of ship detentions around the world following incidents or accidents at sea, and the resulting detention of seafarers, often on an unfair basis and regardless of fault.

In more recent years, concerns have been raised about the unwarranted criminalisation of seafarers and about cases of unfair treatment following the detention of  seafarers in connection with alleged criminal conduct.  In response to these concerns in 2020 the IMO Legal Committee agreed to develop guidelines on the fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing alleged crimes. In this regard, it decided to use the earlier guidelines developed in 2006 as a model for the new set of guidelines.

In April 2024, the IMO Legal Committee approved the draft text of these guidelines and agreed to refer the text  as a base document for further refinement to the third meeting of the Joint ILO-IMO Tripartite Working Group (JTWG-3) to identify and address seafarers’ issues and the human element held in Geneva 26-28 November 2024.

During JTWG-3 this text was discussed, further refined and the guidelines renamed “guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained in connection with alleged crimes” to reflect the fact that seafarers may be detained as witnesses. The  revised text was adopted at JTWG-3  and referred back to the IMO Legal Committee for consideration at its 112^th session in March 2025 where widespread support for the Guidelines was expressed by members of the Legal Committee and a Resolution approving the Guidelines was adopted. All ILO and IMO Member States have been encouraged to adopt and apply the Guidelines, which are a vital tool to assist in ensuring the fair treatment of seafarers and discourage the unwarranted criminalisation of seafarers.