Resolution MSC.167(78)
GUIDELINES ON THE TREATMENT OF PERSONS RESCUED AT SEA
(adopted on 20 May 2004)
THE
MARITIME SAFETY COMMITTEE,
RECALLING
Article 28(b) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization
concerning the functions of the Committee,
NOTING
resolution A.920(22) entitled Review of
safety measures and procedures for the treatment of persons rescued at sea ,
RECALLING
ALSO the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as amended relating to the obligation of:
- shipmasters to
proceed with all speed to the assistance of persons in distress at sea; and
- Governments to
ensure arrangements for coast watching and for the rescue of persons in
distress at sea round their coasts,
RECALLING
FURTHER the provisions of the International Convention on Maritime Search and
Rescue (SAR), 1979, as amended relating to the provision of assistance to any
person in distress at sea regardless of the nationality or status of such
person or the circumstances in which that person is found,
NOTING
ALSO article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982,
regarding the duty to render assistance,
NOTING
FURTHER the initiative taken by the Secretary-General to involve competent
United Nations specialized agencies and programmes in the consideration of the
issues addressed in this resolution, for the purpose of agreeing on a common
approach which will resolve them in an efficient and consistent manner,
REALIZING
the need for clarification of existing procedures to guarantee that persons
rescued at sea will be provided a place of safety regardless of their
nationality, status or the circumstances in which they are found,
HAVING
ADOPTED, as its [seventy-eighth session], by resolution MSC.153(78) amendments
to the SOLAS Convention, proposed and circulated in accordance with article
VIII(b)(i) thereof, and by resolution MSC.155(78) amendments to the SAR
Convention proposed and circulated in accordance with article III(2)(a)
thereof,
REALIZING
FURTHER that the intent of the new paragraph 1-1 of SOLAS regulation V/33, as
adopted by resolution MSC.153(78) and paragraph 3.1.9 of the Annex to the SAR
Convention as adopted by resolution MSC.155(78), is to ensure that in every
case a place of safety is provided within a reasonable time. It is further
intended that the responsibility to provide a place of safety, or to ensure
that a place of safety is provided, falls on the Contracting Government/Party
responsible for the SAR region in which the survivors were recovered,
1.
ADOPTS Guidelines on the treatment of persons rescued at sea the text of which
is set out in the Annex to the present resolution;
2.
INVITES Governments, rescue co-ordination centres and masters to establish
procedures consistent with the annexed Guidelines as soon as possible;
3.
INVITES Governments to bring the annexed Guidelines to the attention of
authorities concerned and to ship owners, operators and masters;
4.
REQUESTS the Secretary-General to take appropriate action in further pursuing
his inter-agency initiative, informing the Maritime Safety Committee of
developments, in particular with respect to procedures to assist in the
provision of places of safety for persons in distress at sea, for action as the
Committee may deem appropriate;
5.
DECIDES to keep this resolution under review.
Annex.
GUIDELINES ON THE TREATMENT OF PERSONS RESCUED AT SEA
1.1
The purpose of these Guidelines are to provide guidance to Governments* and to
shipmasters with regard to humanitarian obligations and obligations under the
relevant international law relating to treatment of persons rescued at sea.
___________________
* Where the term Government
is used in these Guidelines, it should be read to mean Contracting Government
to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as
amended, or Party to the International Convention on Maritime Search and
Rescue, 1979, as amended, respectively.
1.2
The obligation of the master to render assistance should complement the
corresponding obligation of IMO Member Governments to co-ordinate and
co-operate in relieving the master of the responsibility to provide follow up
care of survivors and to deliver the persons retrieved at sea to a place of
safety. These Guidelines are intended to help Governments and masters better
understand their obligations under international law and provide helpful
guidance with regard to carrying out these obligations.
IMO Assembly resolution
A.920(22)
2.1
The IMO Assembly, at its twenty-second session, adopted resolution A.920(22) on
the review of safety measures and procedures for the treatment of persons
rescued at sea. That resolution requested various IMO bodies to review selected
IMO Conventions to identify any gaps, inconsistencies, ambiguities, vagueness
or other inadequacies associated with the treatment of persons rescued at sea.
The objectives were to help ensure that:
.1 survivors of
distress incidents are provided assistance regardless of nationality or status
or the circumstances in which they are found;
.2 ships, which
have retrieved persons in distress at sea, are able to deliver the survivors to
a place of safety; and
.3 survivors,
regardless of nationality or status, including undocumented migrants, asylum seekers
and refugees, and stowaways, are treated, while on board, in the manner
prescribed in the relevant IMO instruments and in accordance with relevant
international agreements and long-standing humanitarian maritime traditions.
2.2
Pursuant to resolution A.920(22), the Secretary-General brought the issue of
persons rescued at sea to the attention of a number of competent United Nations
specialized agencies and programmes highlighting the need for a co-ordinated
approach among United Nations agencies, and soliciting the input of relevant
agencies within the scope of their respective mandates. Such an inter-agency
effort focusing on State responsibilities for non-rescue issues, such as
immigration and asylum that are beyond the competence of IMO, is an essential
complement to IMO efforts.
SOLAS and SAR Convention
amendments
2.3
At its seventy-eighth session, the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) adopted
pertinent amendments to chapter V of the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and to chapters 2, 3 and 4 of the Annex to the
International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue Convention (SAR
Convention). These amendments are expected to enter into force on 1 July 2006.
At the same session the MSC adopted the current guidelines; these amendments
provide for the development of such guidelines. The purpose of these amendments
and the current guidelines is to help ensure that persons in distress are
assisted, while minimizing the inconvenience to assisting ships and ensuring
the continued integrity of SAR services.
2.4
Specifically, paragraph 1-1 of SOLAS regulation V/33 and paragraph 3.1.9 of the
Annex to the SAR Convention, as amended, impose upon Governments an obligation
to co-ordinate and co-operate to ensure that masters of ships providing
assistance by embarking persons in distress at sea are released from their
obligations with minimum further deviation from the ship’s intended voyage.
2.5
As realized by the MSC in adopting the amendments, the intent of new paragraph
1-1 of SOLAS regulation V/33 and paragraph 3.1.9 of the Annex to the
International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, as amended, is to
ensure that in every case a place of safety is provided within a reasonable
time. The responsibility to provide a place of safety, or to ensure that a
place of safety is provided, falls on the Government responsible for the SAR
region in which the survivors were recovered.
2.6
Each case, however, can involve different circumstances. These amendments give
the responsible Government the flexibility to address each situation on a
case-by-case basis, while assuring that the masters of ships providing
assistance are relieved of their responsibility within a reasonable time and
with as little impact on the ship as possible.
2.7
Some comments on relevant international law are set out at the appendix.
3.1
When ships assist persons in distress at sea, co-ordination will be needed
among all concerned to ensure that all of the following priorities are met in a
manner that takes due account of border control, sovereignty and security
concerns consistent with international law:
Lifesaving
All persons in
distress at sea should be assisted without delay.
Preservation of
the integrity and effectiveness of SAR services
Prompt
assistance provided by ships at sea is an essential element of global SAR
services; therefore it must remain a top priority for shipmasters, shipping
companies and flag States.
Relieving
masters of obligations after assisting persons
Flag and coastal
States should have effective arrangements in place for timely assistance to
shipmasters in relieving them of persons recovered by ships at sea.
4. INTERNATIONAL AERONAUTICAL AND
MARITIME SEARCH AND RESCUE MANUAL
4.1
The three-volume International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue
Manual (IAMSAR Manual) has been developed and is maintained to assist
Governments in meeting their SAR needs, and the obligations they have accepted
under the SOLAS Convention, the SAR Convention and the Convention on
International Civil Aviation. Governments are encouraged to develop and improve
their SAR services, co operate with neighbouring States and to consider SAR
services to be part of a global system.
4.2
Each volume of the IAMSAR Manual is written with specific SAR system duties in
mind and can be used as a stand-alone document, or, in conjunction with the
other guidance documents, as a means to attain a full view of the SAR system.
4.3
Volume I Organization and Management discusses the global SAR system concept,
establishment of national and regional SAR systems and co-operation with
neighbouring States to provide effective and economical SAR services.
4.4
Volume II Mission Co-ordination assists personnel who plan and co-ordinate SAR
operations and exercises.
4.5
Volume III Mobile Facilities is intended to be carried aboard ships, aircraft
and rescue units to help with performance of search, rescue or on-scene
co-ordinator functions and with aspects of SAR that pertain to their own
emergencies.
5.1
SAR services throughout the world depend on ships at sea to assist persons in
distress. It is impossible to arrange SAR services that depend totally upon
dedicated shore-based rescue units to provide timely assistance to all persons
in distress at sea. Shipmasters have certain duties that must be carried out in
order to provide for safety of life at sea, preserve the integrity of global
SAR services of which they are part, and to comply with humanitarian and legal
obligations. In this regard, shipmasters should:
.1 understand
and heed obligations under international law to assist persons in distress at
sea (such assistance should always be carried out without regard to the
nationality or status of the persons in distress, or to the circumstances in
which they are found);
.2 do everything
possible, within the capabilities and limitations of the ship, to treat the
survivors humanely and to meet their immediate needs;
.3 carry out SAR
duties in accordance with the provisions of Volume III of the IAMSAR Manual;
.4 in a case
where the RCC responsible for the area where the survivors are recovered cannot
be contacted, attempt to contact another RCC, or if that is impractical, any
other Government authority that may be able to assist, while recognizing that
responsibility still rests with the RCC of the area in which the survivors are
recovered;
.5 keep the RCC
informed about conditions, assistance needed, and actions taken or planned for
the survivors (see paragraph 6.10 regarding other information the RCC may wish
to obtain);
.6 seek to
ensure that survivors are not disembarked to a place where their safety would
be further jeopardized; and
.7 comply with
any relevant requirements of the Government responsible for the SAR region
where the survivors were recovered, or of another responding coastal State, and
seek additional guidance from those authorities where difficulties arise in
complying with such requirements.
5.2
In order to more effectively contribute to safety of life at sea, ships are
urged to participate in ship reporting systems established for the purpose of
facilitating SAR operations.
6. GOVERNMENTS AND RESCUE
CO-ORDINATION CENTRES
Responsibilities and
preparedness
6.1
Governments should ensure that their respective rescue co-ordination centres
(RCCs) and other national authorities concerned have sufficient guidance and
authority to fulfil their duties consistent with their treaty obligations and
the current guidelines contained in this resolution.
6.2
Governments should ensure that their RCCs and rescue units are operating in
accordance with the standards and procedures in the IAMSAR Manual and that all
ships operating under their flag have on board Volume III of the IAMSAR Manual.
6.3
A ship should not be subject to undue delay, financial burden or other related
difficulties after assisting persons at sea; therefore coastal States should
relieve the ship as soon as practicable.
6.4
Normally, any SAR co-ordination that takes place between an assisting ship and any
coastal State(s) should be handled via the responsible RCC. States may delegate
to their respective RCCs the authority to handle such co-ordination on a
24-hour basis, or may task other national authorities to promptly assist the
RCC with these duties. RCCs should be prepared to act quickly on their own, or
have processes in place, as necessary, to involve other authorities, so that
timely decisions can be reached with regard to handling survivors.
6.5
Each RCC should have effective plans of operation and arrangements (interagency
or international plans and agreements if appropriate) in place for responding
to all types of SAR situations. Such plans and arrangements should cover
incidents that occur within its associated SAR region, and should also cover
incidents outside its own SAR region if necessary until the RCC responsible for
the region in which assistance is being rendered (see paragraph 6.7) or another
RCC better situated to handle the case accept responsibility. These plans and
arrangements should cover how the RCC could co-ordinate:
.1 a recovery
operation;
.2
disembarkation of survivors from a ship;
.3 delivery of
survivors to a place of safety; and
.4 its efforts
with other entities (such as customs and immigration authorities, or the ship
owner or flag State), should non-SAR issues arise while survivors are still
aboard the assisting ship with regard to nationalities, status or circumstances
of the survivors; and quickly address initial border control or immigration
issues to minimize delays that might negatively impact the assisting ship,
including temporary provisions for hosting survivors while such issues are
being resolved.
6.6
Plans of operation, liaison activities and communications arrangements should
provide for proper co-ordination in advance of and during a rescue operation
with shipping companies and with national or international authorities that may
need to be involved in response or disembarkation efforts.
6.7
When appropriate, the first RCC contacted should immediately begin efforts to
transfer the case to the RCC responsible for the region in which the assistance
is being rendered. When the RCC responsible for the SAR region in which
assistance is needed is informed about the situation, that RCC should
immediately accept responsibility for co-ordinating the rescue efforts, since
related responsibilities, including arrangements for a place of safety for
survivors, fall primarily on the Government responsible for that region. The
first RCC, however, is responsible for co-ordinating the case until the
responsible RCC or other competent authority assumes responsibility.
6.8
Governments and the responsible RCC should make every effort to minimize the
time survivors remain aboard the assisting ship.
6.9
Responsible State authorities should make every effort to expedite arrangements
to disembark survivors from the ship; however, the master should understand
that in some cases necessary co-ordination may result in unavoidable delays.
6.10
The RCC should seek to obtain the following information from the master of the
assisting ship:
.1 information
about the survivors, including name, age, gender, apparent health and medical
condition and any special medical needs;
.2 the master’s
judgment about the continuing safety of the assisting ship;
.3 actions
completed or intended to be taken by the master;
.4 assisting
ship’s current endurance with the additional persons on board;
.5 assisting
ship’s next intended port of call;
.6 the master’s
preferred arrangements for disembarking the survivors;
.7 any help that
the assisting ship may need during or after the recovery operation; and
.8 any special
factors (e.g., prevailing weather, time sensitive cargo).
6.11
Potential health and safety concerns aboard a ship that has recovered persons
in distress include insufficient lifesaving equipment, water, provisions,
medical care, and accommodations for the number of persons on board, and the
safety of the crew and passengers if persons on board might become aggressive
or violent. In some cases it may be advisable for the RCC to arrange for SAR or
other personnel to visit the assisting ship to better assess the situation
onboard, to help meet needs on board, or to facilitate safe and secure
disembarkation of the survivors.
6.12
A place of safety (as referred to in the Annex to the 1979 SAR Convention,
paragraph 1.3.2) is a location where rescue operations are considered to
terminate. It is also a place where the survivors’ safety of life is no longer
threatened and where their basic human needs (such as food, shelter and medical
needs) can be met. Further, it is a place from which transportation
arrangements can be made for the survivors’ next or final destination.
6.13
An assisting ship should not be considered a place of safety based solely on
the fact that the survivors are no longer in immediate danger once aboard the
ship. An assisting ship may not have appropriate facilities and equipment to
sustain additional persons on board without endangering its own safety or to properly
care for the survivors. Even if the ship is capable of safely accommodating the
survivors and may serve as a temporary place of safety, it should be relieved
of this responsibility as soon as alternative arrangements can be made.
6.14
A place of safety may be on land, or it may be aboard a rescue unit or other
suitable vessel or facility at sea that can serve as a place of safety until
the survivors are disembarked to their next destination.
6.15
The Conventions, as amended, indicate that delivery to a place of safety should
take into account the particular circumstances of the case. These circumstances
may include factors such as the situation on board the assisting ship, on scene
conditions, medical needs, and availability of transportation or other rescue
units. Each case is unique, and selection of a place of safety may need to
account for a variety of important factors.
6.16
Governments should co-operate with each other with regard to providing suitable
places of safety for survivors after considering relevant factors and risks.
6.17
The need to avoid disembarkation in territories where the lives and freedoms of
those alleging a well-founded fear of persecution would be threatened is a
consideration in the case of asylum-seekers and refugees recovered at sea.
6.18
Often the assisting ship or another ship may be able to transport the survivors
to a place of safety. However, if performing this function would be a hardship
for the ship, RCCs should attempt to arrange use of other reasonable alternatives
for this purpose.
6.19
If survivor status or other non-SAR matters need to be resolved, the
appropriate authorities can often handle these matters once the survivors have
been delivered to a place of safety. Until then, RCCs are responsible for
co-operation with any national or international authorities or others involved
in the situation. Examples of non-SAR considerations that may require attention
include oil spills, onscene investigations, salvage, survivors who are migrants
or asylum seekers, needs of survivors once they have been delivered to a place
of safety, or security or law enforcement concerns. National authorities other
than the RCC typically have primary responsibility for such efforts.
6.20
Any operations and procedures such as screening and status assessment of
rescued persons that go beyond rendering assistance to persons in distress
should not be allowed to hinder the provision of such assistance or unduly
delay disembarkation of survivors from the assisting ship(s).
6.21
Although issues other than rescue relating to asylum seekers, refugees and
migratory status are beyond the remit of IMO, and