Mr. Tieman urged shipmasters to report all attacks to the nearest radio station or RCC and urged Governments to ensure that ships are not delayed or their schedule disrupted while investigations are carried out. He spoke of importance of having a system of criminal investigation into both piracy and armed robbery and of the maintenance of evidential chain in order to obtain a conviction of the criminals. He listed the national agencies which could assist in anti-piracy efforts and recommended bringing all those agencies together into a national Working Group with anti-piracy objective as one of their agenda items.
Presentation No.7
IMO activities in preventing and suppressing piracy and armed robbery against ships
25 Mr.E.O. Agbakoba (IMO) in his presentation gave the background of IMO's involvement in the subject of piracy and armed robbery against ships. He informed the meeting that the Organization has been compiling and disseminating statistics on attacks on ships world-wide and in addition has prepared and circulated guidance materials to Governments, shipowners and seafarers. It has also adopted a number of resolutions urging Governments to take action to prevent and suppress piracy and armed robbery in their waters. He traced the rise of modern day piracy in different parts of the world, illustrating, with statistics compiled by IMO, the areas where the problem is most severe. He described the modes of attack in different areas and the consequences these have had on crew, passengers and cargo. He concluded by giving the sequence of events which had taken place in IMO and resulted in this regional seminar and workshop.
Presentation No.8
Situation in Brazil
26 In his presentation, Admiral P.P. Casales (Brazil) described the situation of the maritime industry in Brazil. He expressed the concern of his Government at the reports of piracy and armed robbery in Brazilian ports and observed that many of the incidents contained in IMO monthly reports were not reported to the Brazilian authorities either at the time of occurrence or later. He stressed the need for reporting incidents to the local authorities where they occurred so that the case would be logged and investigated properly. In the absence of such report, he said the police would be unable to take my action. He identified the ports of Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande and Belen as the only Brazilian ports where piracy and armed robbery had been reported and described the measures which had recently been taken by the Government to counter the crimes. This included provision of additional equipment and man-power to the Federal Police in charge of the ports, improved training and regular meetings among all agencies involved with security in the ports. These measures, he said had led to a marked reduction in the number of incidents as indicated in the reports for the first half of the year. He informed the meeting that the Government had placed order for patrol boats and helicopters in an effort to further improve the capability of the police. Despite the efforts of the police, he said the co-operation of shipowners and seafarers was needed in the fight against crime in the ports. He particularly requested for more vigilance by the crew over access to the ship and cargo, improved illumination of the ship at night, better communication between the ships and the law-enforcement agencies and prompt reporting of all attacks or attempted boarding.
THE WORKSHOP
National positions and discussion
27 The lectures were followed by presentations outlining national positions in the participants' countries with regard to piracy and armed robbery against ships and the measures being taken to combat them. A summary of the national reports is contained in annex 3.
