The IMO Legal Committee (LEG) met in person for its 111th session at IMO Headquarters in London from 22 to 26 April 2024. The Committee deals with all legal matters within the scope of IMO, including issues relating to liability and compensation, fair treatment of seafarers and the fraudulent registration of ships.
At the session a Working Group was established with the remit of finalising draft guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing crimes. These draft guidelines will now be a base document for refinement at the joint ILO-IMO Tripartite Working Group to identify and address seafarers’ issues and the human element (JTWG) due to meet at the ILO in Geneva in December 2024.
The Committee considered the Report of a Correspondence Group that had worked since the last meeting of LEG (110th session in March 2023). The Committee noted the following views expressed during the discussion:
- There is an urgent need for the maritime sector to establish measures on fair treatment of seafarers in all circumstances, in particular when they are detained on suspicion of having committed maritime crimes;
- Concerns were expressed about the long duration of seafarer detentions in port States in cases such as the MSC Aries in Bandar Abbas, where they were suspected of committing maritime crime;
- Seafarers need protection in criminal proceedings conducted by port State authorities. The guidelines should therefore apply to any seafarer detained in a foreign jurisdiction when employed in any capacity on board a ship;
- The word [maritime] in the title and guidelines should be deleted as there is no internationally recognized definition of ʺmaritime crimeʺ, thus the term created confusion and undermined the purpose the guidelines were meant to achieve;
- It was vital to have guidelines dealing with fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing maritime crimes in a single document, which would supplement and complement the existing guidelines for fair treatment of seafarers in the event of a maritime accident;
- The procedures in the guidelines cannot override national legislation or domestic penal proceedings in the jurisdiction of the port State. The rights and protection of suspected persons are guaranteed by national law and human rights conventions and cannot be amended by guidelines;
- Functions of the consul are defined in international law, in particular in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, which contains no coordination functions for consuls with port States; and
- Many delegations showed their dedicated support of the work on the guidelines and their willingness to participate in the Working Group.
