International maritime organizations want more blood, more deaths, more money and more power

BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and the International Transport Workers’ Federation issued a Joint Statement, widespreaded by international media under the headline “Shipping industry outraged at execution and torture of seafarers by pirates”. Speaking about outrage, statement is outrageous, because never before “leaders” of world shipping so blatantly exposed their true position.
“…Somali pirates have executed, apparently in cold blood, a seafarer on the merchant ship Beluga Nomination which had been attacked and hijacked by armed pirates on 22 January in the Indian Ocean. Three seafarers were reportedly taken aside for ‘punishment’ after an attempt by the Seychelles coastguard to free the hostage crew resulted in the death of a pirate”.

As all who monitor piracy situation know, crew of the vessel locked themselves in citadel and waited for 2.5 days for navy help, but in vain. Pirates opened citadel with gas burner, and by the time Seyshelles navy boat and Danish fregate approched vessel, crew was under the control of the pirates, in other words – with guns at seafarers heads. Nevertheless, navies opened fire on the vessel. Who died from whose fire, is absolutely unknown. How come, that 2 sailors who escaped on a lifeboat, were picked up only two days later, after search and rescue operation? Why weren’t they were picked up immediately after escape? Why navies opened fire on a vessel knowning, that crew was already hostage of the pirates? You’ll find no such questions in a Joint Statement, full of ourage and indignation.

What creators of a Joint Statement demand?
” We wholeheartedly condemn these violent acts and once again strongly urge governments to empower their naval forces to take fast and robust action against pirates, and the vessels under their control, before passing ships are boarded and hijacked”.
What does it mean? They demand navies to open fire on any vessel attacked by pirates or already highjacked by pirates, notwithstanding crew casualities? They aren’t afraid any more of  the “escalation of the violence”?

If those organizations were true leaders and defenders of shipping and sefarers, their statement should be absolutely different. They should demand not a “robust navy actions”, but:

1. Immediate and adequate security measures to be taken by all shipowners, with guaranteed safety for the crews. Presently there are only two such  measures, either hiring armed guards, or changing the route to avoid pirate-infested waters;
2. If all countries interested in safe shipping can’t provide military guards for each vessel transiting dangerous waters, they must not oppose the idea of private security, and help shipowners to obtain such security in most convenient and cheap way;
3. All nations who sent their navies to Indian ocean “to protect safe shipping” must immediately stop irresponsible, unprofessional and mortally dangerous for sefarers activities of their navies, there must be an immediate ban on any attempts to free highjacked vessels, when crews are under pirates control;
4. There is a growing need of establishing public control over navies activities;
5. There is an urgent need of legal framework and legal estimation of navies activities. What are their rights? When and under what circumstances they may open fire on highjacked vessel, when vessel is under different from navy flag, belongs to shipowner from other country, and is manned by multinational crew?
6. Relatives of those who died under “friendly fire” should sue navies’ States, and also shipowner, demanding compensation.

Instead, maritime organizations demand more violence and more deaths of seafarers, for whom they claim they care so much. For a long time there was a clear understanding of growing danger of violence, originating from irresponsible, egotistic actions of the navies, thoroughly supported by maritime organizations. But few raised their voices trying to stop future tragedies. Ecoterra Intl is among those few.
I strongly opposed Russian Navy killing of the pirates who attacked Sovcomflot tanker Moscow University, I called it a crime. I was criticized from all sides, many required my execution and mused over my share in ransoms. Why? Because I called the things by their true names.
Pirates are the reality, we have to go with it wether we like it or not, simply because we can’t manage the problem. As we go with criminals all around the world. There are some unspoken rules all sides try to stick to, be it public, criminals or law-enforcement. We aknowledge some basic rights criminals have, and we don’t lynch them at any opportunity. We still consider criminals as humans. Why we consider Somali pirates to be an exception? I mean, if we want to wage an all-out war on pirates and agree between ourselves, that they’re not humans and we may and must kill them anywhere under any circumstances, then it’s fine, and all atrocities already comitted by navies should become not atrocities, but everybody’s and everyday’s practice.
But some navies kill pirates as much as they can, and do it in a clandestine way. When vessel with crew in citadel is stormed by navy, pirates are often killed even if they give themselves up. And here are the results – pirates became desperate and extremely dangerous to the crews – and who’s to blame for it? Well, of course, they are criminals.., they don’t deserve.., in other times pirates were … bla-bla. Tell you what – if we’re so highly moral that we can’t consider Somali pirates as humans, we must openly admit it. Publicily we’re talking about pirates prosecution, their rights and non-lethal weapons, in reality we applaud each unlawful killing when it became publicily known. What do we expect from pirates then, and why maritime organizations became so outraged, when they did everything they could to turn Somali pirates into bloodthirsty killers? If we want to sweep pirates out, let’s openly accept new rules of the game. Of course, with pirates would die hundreds of seafarers, but we’re talking about our highest standarts of morality, not about their expendable lives. They’ll die for a true cause, that’s what we’ll have to tell to seafarers and their relatives. And then go on with shooting all and everybody, to make oceans clean, green and safe.

And that’s all what I’m talking about, it’s not excuses for pirates, it’s the statement of the facts as they are – either we treat pirates as humans, or we kill’m all and count the dead bodies. In both cases all nations must act as one, openly and under mutual agreement. Stop undercover killings and excess violence, or we’ll have more blood and more brutality.

Now let’s look at what we witness last week – unprecedented mass-media campaign, devoted to recent sharp rise of the violence, and explaining the rise by pirates unexplained brutality. No media tried to ask, what were the reasons for that. All media were referring to two sources, navies and international maritime organizations.

Let’s remember, that there are two opponents to armed guards on vessels, those two opponents are navies and international maritime organizations. They were opposing armed guards before and they oppose guards now. Under a shaky reason – “use of private armed guards will lead to an escalation of violence”. Stating bluntly, both navies and international maritime organizations lie when they give above cited reason. Armed guards lead to anything except violence escalation, one-two warning rounds of shots are enough to scare pirates off, and armed guards in most part, are highly professional ex-specials, who know the price of life and rules of the game.
Let’s remember also, that there are several parties interested in Somali piracy as a long-term process, among those parties are navies and international maritime organizations. The existence of Somali piracy on it’s present level serves to the best of their interests. Navies get their budgets. Nations get a chance to demonstrate to the world their growing power. International maritime organizations get more power and more money.

In fact, all leaders of maritime organizations, starting from Mr. Mitropoulos, General Secretary of IMO, should be deprived of their posts long time ago, and put under investigation. Their activities actually, serve the piracy and pirates. They should organize secure passage for nearly all vessels in the region long time ago, by demanding either military teams on board, or private guards. But instead, they oppose the only guaranteed measure to thwart piracy attacks and therefore,  to leave pirates without prey, so who gains most from the position and activities of maritime organizations? Pirates.

Thanks to joint efforts of navies and international maritime organizations, we’ve got a Beluga Nomination tragedy. But navies and international maritime organizations want more. More blood, more deaths, more money and more power.

World shipping, “industry” as it’s called, is not a body, a community. It’s a highly atomized conglomerate of many participants, from seafarers to shipowners and charterers, where everybody is for himself and God is for everybody. Some organizations and persons use this atomization, total lack of united response to threats, to their advantage. Shipping encounters many risks, and one of the most grave ones is not piracy, it’s shipping’s disunity, inability to to control those who shamelessly proclaimed themselves as shipping leaders.

Voytenko Mikhail
Feb 6 2011