During the ICMA training in Poland in June 2025, we had a chance to speak with Dr. Viola Heutger about advocacy and the importance of understanding the law for the seafarers’ welfare. Here is a transcript of the conversation you can watch above:
As a lawyer in the beginning, you always think everything is written in the law book, in the legal text, and then in reality you see that it needs so much more. It needs evaluation, monitoring, supervision. And that is something we also want to teach our students.
My name is Viola Heutger, and I work at the University of Antwerp, where I’m teaching transport law, contract law, and doing research on unmanned vessels. As a student, I loved to study Roman law, and they have a lot of legal texts on throwing goods into the sea and the compensation rules. That fascinated me. I was looking at how it is regulated today.
I wanted to study in Rotterdam, where you can really do cargo, transport law, insurance. During my time at the University of Antwerp and the University of Amsterdam, I also enrolled in a course in Rotterdam on the transport of cargo at sea. For me, it was an eye-opener to get to know the German Deutsche Seemannsmission, the German Seafarers’ Mission.
There I realized that behind all the containers I studied, behind all the bills of lading, behind the wonderful photos of vessels and ports, there are people. I hadn’t seen them. I must be very honest about that. I studied for a long time contract law, maritime law, and I was never aware of the people.
In 2004, the port chaplain of the German Seafarers’ Mission asked me if I could help him with some legal problems. That was an eye-opening experience for me. I said, wow, what an interesting and important work. At that time, the Maritime Labor Convention was in the last phase of being drafted. It was fascinating to get some insight into how this law was made.
Then I got the chance to become a member of the board of the Shing Deutsche Seemannsmission, the guest house of the Seafarers’ Mission in Amsterdam. That was a significant experience for me.
They see the changes in work circumstances, the work pressure, the undermining, the fatigue, the stress—COVID, of course. That is so valuable because that’s what normally is not reported or monitored. The seafarers’ missions can really advocate and give a voice to the seafarers, as they are on the frontlines and meeting them as often as possible.
A union like ITF is so important to give a voice to the seafarers and to unite them in civil society movements, to create awareness, to teach people what to see and be aware of. In recent years, ESG movements have taken care of sustainability, not only in the environment, but also on social and governance issues. That empowers the discussion at the level of seafarer wellness and welfare.
It’s not only the gospel they bring to the seafarers, but also empowerment—encouraging them to stand up for their rights, to tell them about their rights, to explain shore leave, or that when they don’t have passports, they have the right to another identity document. So much more is possible.
But people must also ask for their rights and fight for their rights. The more people who do, the better the quality of the laws and their application will be. Therefore, it’s so important that seafarers are taught by the Seamen’s Missions and encouraged to claim their rights.
On the other hand, the Seafarers’ Mission spreads information and creates awareness among ordinary people—the consumers of the goods that the seafarers brought.