Legal Committee, 108th session (LEG 108), 26-30 July 2021 (opening remarks)

ADDRESS OF THE SECRETARY‑GENERAL KITACK LIM AT THE OPENING OF THE 108TH SESSION OF THE LEGAL COMMITTEE

(26 to 30 July 2021)

Mr. Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, observers,

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all of you.

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the 108th session of the Legal Committee. I extend a particular welcome to those of you who may be participating in a session of the Legal Committee for the first time. This week marks the end of what has been an extremely busy period for the Organization and specially for you, distinguished delegates. I am sure that all of us are looking forward to the break, but there is still important work remaining for you to consider at this meeting. 

Let me first express my sympathy to all those countries and persons affected by the recent floods in Europe, and China and the heatwave and resultant wildfires in Europe and North America. I express my solidarity with all those affected by these extreme weather events, occurring as IMO continues its efforts to combat climate change.  

On a more positive note, I would like to congratulate Liberia to their national day.

You have several very important items on your agenda, including key topics related to seafarers. I would like to stress that the well-being of the over 1.8 million seafarers working on board seagoing ships every day to deliver goods to the populations around the world continues to be my priority.

IMO's commitment to the well-being of seafarers is reflected in this year's World Maritime Theme: "Seafarers: at the core of shipping's future". As I have repeatedly emphasized, seafarers have been the silent heroes and collateral victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, as travel restrictions have left hundreds of thousands of them stranded on ships, or unable to join ships. The professionalism, dedication, and personal sacrifice of seafarers through the pandemic has been truly outstanding, and we must continue to support them. 

Abandonment of seafarers is a growing problem, and the huge spike in cases this year is a cause for great concern. Whilst the IMO puts all efforts to assist, unfortunately, some cases remain unresolved for a long time and seafarers are unable to return to their families and receive their wages in a timely manner.

At its previous session, your Committee agreed to develop a set of guidelines for port State authorities on how to deal with seafarer abandonment cases.

I am confident that the development of the proposed guidelines would provide a solid basis for the introduction of a unified procedure to follow in order to speed up the process of repatriation of seafarers and to improve port operations.

Moreover, at its previous session, your Committee expressed its strong support to preserving the rights of seafarers and added a new output under its work programme on "Fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing maritime crimes".

At this session you will continue to address this issue.

I would like to emphasize that IMO, in close cooperation with UN sister organizations and industry partners, continues to urge Member States to recognize seafarers as "key workers", as also advocated by the UN General Assembly Resolution adopted in 2020, and to prioritize their vaccination, thereby facilitating seafarers' safe movement across borders. It is of utmost importance that Member States designate seafarers as "key workers". I sincerely thank the 60 IMO Member States and two Associate Members who have already done so. We need more Member States to heed to the call. 

You will continue to address another important topic, that of unlawful practices associated with the fraudulent registration and fraudulent registries of ships. Fraudulent registration of ships threatens the operation of legitimate registries and poses a serious risk to the whole shipping industry. Indeed, fraudulent registration is a threat to the entire IMO regulatory system. 

You have already developed a resolution on "Measures to prevent the fraudulent registration and fraudulent registries of ships" that was adopted at the 31st session of the Assembly. At this session, you are expected to finalize a draft Assembly resolution on encouragement of Member States and all relevant stakeholders to promote actions for the prevention and suppression of fraudulent registration and fraudulent registries and other fraudulent acts in the maritime sector. I am encouraged by the number of States that have reported information regarding their registries via the new GSIS module, and I urge all other Member States to follow suit. 

Due to time constraints, the Committee was not able to make progress on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) at its previous session. Thus, at this session, the aim is to finalize the regulatory scoping exercise of conventions emanating from the Legal Committee for the use of MASS. With the rapid development of new technologies that aim at improving the efficiency of shipping, we need to keep our legal framework under review and continue to remain proactive. I look forward to your Committee embarking on the next steps in that process.

Turning to the ratification and implementation of the 2010 HNS Convention, I am encouraged by the progress made by many Member States towards ratifying the HNS Convention. I would like to encourage those that have not done so to consider ratifying to bring into force this important treaty in order to effectively handle incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances.

This is the second regular session of your Committee to be held remotely and your workload is heavy. I am confident that you will work in the usual spirit of cooperation and tackle the tasks before you successfully, under the capable leadership of your Chair, Mr. Volker Schöfisch of Germany, and Vice-Chair, Ms. Gillian Grant of Canada, to pave the way for progressing IMO's work in the following months. 

My best wishes to you all for a productive session. 

Thank you, Chair.