CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ REGULAR MIGRATION THROUGH SOUTH MEDITERRANEAN ROUTE … the search and rescue service that the ship is doing so.” 25 The convention stresses that this obligation applies “regardless of the nationality or status of such persons or the circumstances in which they are found.” 26 It further states that “If the ship receiving the distress alert is unable or, in the special circumstances of the case, considers it unreasonable or unnecessary to proceed to their assistance, the master must enter in the log-book the reason for failing to proceed to the assistance of the persons in distress, taking into account the recommendation of the Organization to inform the appropriate search and rescue service accordingly.” 27 Thirdly, a convention also outlining the obligation of the shipmaster is the Salvage Convention, which states that “Every master is bound, so far as he can do so without serious danger to his vessel and persons thereon, to render assistance to any person in danger of being lost at sea. The States Parties shall adopt the measures necessary to enforce the duty set out in paragraph 1.” 28 It can be stated that all the conventions discussed above confirm the shipmaster’s duty to render assistance to persons in distress at sea and to treat any rescued survivors humanely while on board the ship. 29 It was noted in the San Remo Workshop of practitioners in maritime search and rescue in 2016 that “while seafarers on the whole take their SAR responsibilities very seriously, there have been occasional reports of vessels which fail to respond to distress signals or switch off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking to avoid being requested to assist with SAR operations.” 30 Therefore, in the context of the above mentioned conventions the NGO ships should be considered as any other merchant ships. The difference is in the aim of their activity. The merchant vessels have as their aim to deliver their load to a particular port, and they are not crossing the seas to save persons in distress. The encounter with a situation where there are persons in distress and in need to be rescued diverts private ships from their destination, and it is not always easy to reach timely agreements on the disembarkment of the rescued persons on a safe location. Therefore, the ships suffer delay in reaching their own destination. The commercial ships even avoid the popular migrant route regions so as not to be diverted from their routes. In this sense, the NGO ships have SAR operations as their main option, and relieve the commercial ships of the duty to render assistance. On the other hand, ships with such a particular aim are a new phenomenon not directly foreseen in the international conventions and regulations and their active involvement on the scene where the lives of migrants are at risk but also criminals are operating and conducting their “business”. Therefore, the places are places of rescue but at the same time of danger. One of the concerns expressed in the meetings of practitioners in the field of maritime rescue was that these ancillary SAR actors should be better integrated into the existing coordination mechanisms which are coordinated by the coastal state SAR authorities. 31

25 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1960 (with annexed Regulations) U.N.T.S. 536, entered into force 26 May 1965. Chapter V, Regulation 33(1).

26 Ibid. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. 29 BUTTON, supra note 12, p. 34. 30 Practitioners’ perspectives , supra note 22, para. 11. 31 Ibid. , para. 12.

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