CEBU, Philippines - Cebu is a hub for maritime studies and yet, many students and their parents fear sending them off with ships because of the piracy at coasts off Somalia, the Gulf Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Because of that, the shipping industries will raise a campaign against piracy, specifically asking governments to eradicate the problem.
The SOS (SaveOurSeafarers) campaign, headed by its chairman, Heimann Giles, said that 3,500 seafarers were kidnapped and subjected to traumas as they were used as human shields. They were also forced to operate their ships as a pirate ship under control of the pirates, causing them extreme mental and physical suffering.
Of the 3,500 kidnapped seamen in the past four years, 62 of them died. Some of them were murdered by pirates, others committed suicide while in captivity while some died from malnutrition and disease like heart failure.
Heimann, a German national, was recently in Cebu in connection with the giving of scholarships to maritime students at the University of Cebu - Maritime Education and Training Center.
He said the seafarers who were held captives by pirates were in dreadfully traumatic conditions such as torture and psychological harm as they were hung by the ankles over the side of the ship, being made to stay in the ship’s freezer room, having cable ties tightened round their genitals aside from being beaten, punched and kicked.
Many of these seafarers remain traumatized and unable to return to their seafaring careers long after the hijack is over.
There are currently more than 35 ships being held captive for ransom with a total of almost 800 seafarers held hostage.
He said the shipping industry continues to recognize and appreciate the positive and supportive role played by the Naval forces which deployed a significant number of warships and other military assets to the region.
But according to the SOS, their efficiency is hindered by the “lack of political will in many governments” to authorize the arrest and prosecution of detained pirates.
“This in turn restricts naval and military operations to no more than a ‘catch and release’ exercise that discourages and disturbs the pirates only to a limited extent,” the SOS said in a press statement.
SOS is proposing an urgent action by all the government to take necessary steps to stop the piracy from spiraling out of control.
Governments need to authorize naval forces to hold pirates and deliver them for prosecution and punishment, increase naval assets available in the affected area and provide greater protection and support for seafarers by “tracing and criminalizing the organizers and financiers” behind these acts.
The SOS is being supported by 24 industry organizations signifying a “unanimous strength of purpose from all sides of the shipping industry.” — (FREEMAN)