Posted on Aug 10th, 2011
Three of the largest flag states, accounting for around 40% of the world’s commercial shipping tonnage, have signed an agreement condemning the acts of violence against seafarers by pirates. The flag states agreed to pool information on the mistreatment of seafarers at the hands of pirates.
The flag states signed a Declaration in Washington on 3 August 2011, condemning the acts of violence against seafarers. The Declaration recognised that the increasing use of violence against captured seafarers was underreported and noted that there were significant sensitivities associated with such information.
The Declaration affirmed their commitment to provide information on the levels of violence faced by seafarers to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) from reports received by them in accordance with their internal procedures.
The IMB will collate and disseminate aggregated data of the levels of violence. The reports will omit their names, the names of the vessels, owners, operators and flag states to protect identities and privacy.
The project is supported by the One Earth Future Foundation (OEFF) and the TK Foundation.
The total number of attacks worldwide stands at 304, with 31 successful hijackings.
IMB strongly urges all shipmasters and owners to continue to report all worldwide actual, attempted or suspicious piracy and armed robbery incidents to the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre.
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