Around 200 Kiribati seafarers are stuck in Fiji as their long battle to return home continues.
Some of the men, who were serving at sea when the Covid-19 pandemic first broke, have been away from home and families for two years.
Their plight is at the extreme end of what seafarers have had to suffer due to travel and quarantine restrictions to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Originally around 320 Kiribati seafarers were trapped in Brazil, Denmark, Germany and Spain at the beginning of this year.
Their own government kept the door shut to their return, to keep the country free from the infection.
Through negotiations with the International Maritime Organization, unions and industry associations, a way home for the men was negotiated.
However, 200 of the seafarers became caught up in a Covid-19 outbreak in Fiji as they quarantined prior to returning home.
As a result, they have again found the door shut to their return. Kiribati told the IMO it has closed its borders until the end of June, when it will review the situation.
The BBC recently revealed the emotional struggles of the men in a news story.
“We have 200 seafarers who have not been able to get home and we see no immediate way forward. That is a real concern to us because we have done everything we can to make sure that they are as safe as possible, and they have just been taken from pillar to post," Shaw said.
"If there is one shout-out I’d like to give on International Day of the Seafarer, it is to those Kiribati seafarers who seem to have been forgotten in the world. We are really pushing for their government to allow them home now."
The men have been receiving support funds and are being given accommodation and food in Fiji. But as they are no longer employed, they are not being paid and cannot support their families at home.
"The attitude of the Kiribati government is, 'let them go back to sea and earn some money', and really, that is not a solution," Shaw said.
"Our best wishes and thoughts are with them and we’d really like to do something. We need the Kiribati government to act."
