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IMO welcomes UN resolution on intercepting people smuggling vesselsIMO welcomes UN resolution on intercepting people smuggling vessels

The IMO secretary-general Koiji Sekimizu has welcomed a UN Security Council Resolution authorising member states to intercept vessels suspected of migrant smuggling off the Libyan coast.

Ian Middleton, Former Tanker Correspondent

October 15, 2015

1 Min Read
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The resolution, adopted on 9 October, authorises member states, for one year, and in accordance with international law, to inspect any vessels in the area they have reasonable grounds to suspect had been, were being, or imminently would be used for criminal trafficking of migrants from Libya, including rafts, inflatables or dinghies.

Since the current crisis started in early 2014, Sekimizu has consistently called for concerted action to be taken to tackle people smugglers.

Sending the migrants to sea in unseaworthy boats has cost thousands of lives though many more have been rescued. But the IMO has constantly pointed out, the merchant shipping industry and its search and rescue procedures simply cannot cope with the numbers involved nor were designed to.

Of the UN resolution, Sekimizu said: 'I welcome the United Security Council's clear affirmation of the necessity to put and end to the recent proliferation of, and endangerment of lives by, the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of persons in the Mediterranean Sea and the strong measures advocated to address these criminal activities.'

About the Author

Ian Middleton

Former Tanker Correspondent

Ian Middleton is former editor of Tanker Trends, and before that of both Seatrade magazine and Seatrade Week. After having begun his career with a leading UK newspaper chain, Ian joined Seatrade in the late 1970s, allowing him a ringside view of the up's and down's of the shipping business from the 1980s slump onwards.

With his specialist knowledge of the tanker market, Ian is one of Seatrade's most experienced writers and a practised conference speaker and moderator.

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