UN condemns use of sailors as human shields after ransom payment

MANILA, Philippines - The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) has condemned the use of sailors as human shields even though a ransom was paid.

Somali pirates continued to detain seven crewmembers of a recently released ship even as ransom had been reportedly paid.

Six officers and one other crewmember of the M/V Asphalt Venture are being held at an undisclosed location after the ship and the rest of the people aboard were released by pirates off Somalia last Thursday, nearly seven months after they were hijacked.

The IMO stressed that it deplores all acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships and the treatment of seafarers held hostage.

“Using seafarers as human shields to continue to engage in piracy - one of the most heinous of crimes against humanity at sea - is totally unacceptable,” the agency said.

IMO is backing a new “Save Our Seafarers” campaign launched by the shipping industry, saying that the safety and well-being of sailors should be of paramount importance to any strategy to respond to piracy.

The agency’s statement comes amid mounting international concern about the problem of piracy, particularly in the waters off Somalia.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the Trust Fund to Support Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia needs more resources to carry out its mandate.

The trust fund’s board has approved 12 projects worth $4.3 million since the fund was created in January last year, including a media project to disseminate anti-piracy messages in the region and other initiatives to strengthen law enforcement and criminal justice in Somalia, Kenya and Seychelles.

The UN said the fund offered an opportunity to translate regional and global concerns into concrete actions.

Somali pirates released early this month the MV Irene SL and its 25-member crew, including 17 Filipinos.

The pirates captured on Feb. 9 the Greek-flagged supertanker the off the coast of Oman while on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) said armed pirates seized the Irene SL tanker, carrying about US$200 million worth of crude.

To date, there are 86 Filipino seafarers onboard eight vessels held captive by pirates.

Filipino seafarer Farolito Vallega was killed by Somali pirates aboard the MV Beluga Nomination last January in a “fit of anger” after a mission attempted to rescue the hijacked ship.

Vallega was shot and killed by Somali pirates on Jan. 26 after two anti-piracy naval patrol vessels attempted a rescue mission of the ship on Jan. 24.

The German-owned Beluga Nomination was hijacked by Somali pirates 390 nautical miles north of Port Victoria in the Seychelles on Jan. 22. Onboard the ship were 12 crewmembers, including seven Filipinos. The other crewmembers are of Russian, Ukrainian and Polish descent.