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ITF agrees with utilizing council (11/7)

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has issued the following news release: Bringing UN Security Council is right move The ITF has congratulated the IMO for responding to the pirate attack on the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit by calling on the UN Security Council to tackle the anarchy of the seas off Somalia – and beyond. The ITF had made a personal plea to IMO (International Maritime Organization) Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos to bring in the Security Council, since it is capable of making the kind of necessary naval intervention that the IMO, for very understandable reasons, cannot. The Federation described itself as delighted by his response that the IMO had already planned to do so. John Bainbridge, who represents the ITF on piracy at the IMO explained: “This latest attack, coming hard on the heels of the shameful theft of two relief vessels, proves that the situation is almost beyond control. Even 100 miles offshore ships are unsafe. We must bite the bullet and admit that as a unified nation, Somalia has ceased to exist. That may well mean that other countries will have to enter its waters and take over the duties that it can no longer carry out. “Piracy is a world problem, a growing plague feeding on global trade, and sad to say it goes far beyond just this one area. However this latest incident may just act as the necessary catalyst by proving that enough is enough. It’s time for decisive action against piracy and armed robbery of ships wherever they happen. Despite the IMO’s undoubted efforts against piracy the problem persists and seafarers are being killed, traumatized and held to ransom. As a result, it appears that the IMO is to take the necessary next step to up the ante.” He concluded: “The Security Council will have to ask how many more attacks there need to be before real action is taken. They may want to remember what the response has been to a single terrible incident in the past - how a single terrorist attack against the Achille Lauro resulted in the adoption of the SUA Convention (Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation).” ###