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Pirate guards need global guidelines: U.N. agency
Source: Reuters
Pirate guards need global guidelines: U.N. agency
By Peter Griffiths
LONDON | Thu May 17, 2012 3:23pm EDT
(Reuters) - Armed guards employed on merchant ships to repel attacks by pirates should be subject to new standards to ensure they abide by international law while on the high seas, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.
The International Maritime Organization, whose role is to improve the safety of global shipping, said it wanted a new set of global guidelines to be drawn up to help countries and shipping countries decide whether and how to deploy armed guards.
"International standards or regimes should be established," IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told reporters.
"That regime should not be made compulsory, but provide an international framework on which the flag state and the (shipping) companies may decide to employ arms on board.
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By Peter Griffiths
LONDON | Thu May 17, 2012 3:23pm EDT
(Reuters) - Armed guards employed on merchant ships to repel attacks by pirates should be subject to new standards to ensure they abide by international law while on the high seas, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.
The International Maritime Organization, whose role is to improve the safety of global shipping, said it wanted a new set of global guidelines to be drawn up to help countries and shipping countries decide whether and how to deploy armed guards.
"International standards or regimes should be established," IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told reporters.
"That regime should not be made compulsory, but provide an international framework on which the flag state and the (shipping) companies may decide to employ arms on board.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-britain-piracy-idUSBRE84G17J20120517