ISWAN administers the Piracy Survivor Family Fund on behalf of the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) for seafarers and families who have been affected by Somali piracy. Applications are encouraged from any seafarer, seafarers’ welfare organisation, or seafarers’ families, where Somali piracy has caused hardship.
Thousands of seafarers have been held hostage by pirates and most shipping companies have ensured that the seafarers and their families do not suffer financially as a result of piracy, on top of the trauma of attack and captivity. However, in some cases companies have become bankrupt as a result of the piracy, or left seafarers and families otherwise unsupported, leading to additional suffering, hardship and trauma for the seafarers' families during the period of captivity, and homecomings to impoverished families and no support for reemployment or rehabilitation.
The PSFF fulfils a crucial role in the rehabilitation of survivors of Somali piracy, supporting seafarers and their families who have received no or only very limited support since their attack.
