Top admiralty lawyer seeks IMO to immunise armed guards on ships

TOP admiralty lawyer John Cartner, author of The International Law of the Shipmaster, is pressing the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to allow armed guards on ships to guard against pirates, reports the Maritime Advocate.


"I urge shipowners and other stakeholders to bring pressure on IMO to enact these changes. It is an inexpensive and simple move for the IMO to make. Armed guards carried on ships will substantially suppress piracy," said Dr Cartner, a licensed sea captain and a chartered naval architect.


Dr Cartner, who heads Washington law firm Cartner & Fiske LLC, seeks amendments to the Safety at Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) after pirates captured 1,181 seafarers and killed eight of them in 2010.


Under SOLAS and other laws, it is a ship master's duty to protect the lives of those aboard his ship, but that he may not do that lawfully with private armed guards, he said.


"Whilst naval forces and their marines are immune from criminal prosecutions for their acts unless they step outside their perimeters of duties, armed private guards killing or injuring a pirate are currently committing a crime under flag state laws and the master is an accomplice or an abettor to this crime," said Dr Cartner.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)