ISWAN South Asia is the regional office of ISWAN, an international organisation that promotes and directly serves the welfare of seafarers worldwide through our 24*7 SeafarerHelp helpline. The International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) is a membership organisation that works to promote and support the welfare of seafarers all over the world. They experience long periods away f
rom family and friends with limited or no communication, fast turnaround of ships in ports with severely restricted shore leave, reduced crew numbers and increased workloads. Welfare services and facilities both on board and ashore can be a lifeline for seafarers. Our free, 24-hour, multilingual helpline, SeafarerHelp, is one of the direct welfare services we provide to seafarers. We have also launched a 24-hour helpline specifically for professional yacht crew - Yacht Crew Help. Other services we provide include our relief funds for seafarers and their family members in need and a range of health information resources. We work with companies, unions, governments, welfare organisations and ports for the implementation of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. We support those who establish and provide welfare facilities and services in port and on ships. We are funded by membership subscriptions, grants from foundations, sponsorship and earned income. We are grateful to our main funders – the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, The TK Foundation, Seafarers UK and Trafigura Foundation – for their continued support.
