As Head of the Ukrainian Shipping Administration Yevhen Ignatenko pointed out on July 4, the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at its 107th session decided not to recognize the “sailors’ documents” issued by the aggressor in the occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Crimea.
Let us recall that our Association has repeatedly informed the International Maritime Organization with reasonable arguments about the violation of the maritime law by Russia as part of the occupation of the Crimea and the related maritime aggression, the relevant appeals, including those prepared by Professor Boris Babin, were distributed by the Paris Memorandum of Port State Control among the participating countries.
The Committee called on the IMO member states to recognize as illegal the “certificates” and other “sailors’ documents”, issued in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and to take measures to seize them during the inspection of ships crewed by Russian sailors, and, accordingly, to detain the ships in their ports until the replacement of such improper crew members.
Following its 107th session, the Committee condemned the illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia and called for an immediate end to the war against Ukraine and the withdrawal of its forces from the territory of Ukraine, including its territorial waters, and also reaffirmed the call for IMO member states to make decisive efforts to condemn illegal unilateral actions of Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The Committee supported the position of Ukraine, set out in document MSC 107/2/3 on the above issue, and proposals for an algorithm of actions aimed at identifying “certificates” and other “sailors’ documents” fraudulently issued by Russia in the occupied territory of Ukraine and violating the requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974; and the International Convention on the Training, Certification and Watchkeeping of Seafarers, 1978.
