Citation:

BOSRO Kponvi Kokou. "Disembarkation and Repatriation of Stowaways in Maritime Law" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 185-197, 2024.

Abstract:

This article examines the issue of disembarkation and repatriation of stowaways discovered on board merchant ships and the attitude of States in this respect. The attitude of States is to refuse disembarkation while penalising shipowners for entering their ports with stowaways on board. This attitude is all the more incomprehensible given that the carriers are not the only ones to blame for having stowaways on board. The stowaways had to breach the ship's interface (the port enclosure) before reaching the ship. Responsibility for the failure of prevention must be shared. The 1957 Brussels Convention on stowaways did just that. Unfortunately, it has not entered into force due to insufficient ratifications. Other texts have also tried, in particular Chapter 4 of the FAL Convention, which was amended in 2002 by the IMO, but to no avail, despite the commitments made by the States.

References:

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[56] Disciplinary and Penal Code of the Merchant Navy (France) ;
[57] International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (SOLAS Convention)
[58] International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended (STCW);
[59] Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (CORLEG)
[60] Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, 1965 (FAL) ;
[61] 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) ;
[62] Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988 (SUA) and the 1988 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of
[63] Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (together with the 2005 Protocols);
[64] 1972 International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) ;
[65] 1971 Agreement on passenger ships engaged in special transport (STP Agreements) ;
[66] 1973 Protocol on accommodation on board passenger ships engaged in special transport ;
[67] Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974 (PAL 1974) ;
[68] 1957 International Convention on Stowaways of 10 October 1957 ;
[69] United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, known as the Palermo Convention of December 2000;
[70] Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the Palermo Convention on Transnational Organized Crime;
[71] 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
[72] Alonzo Amélie, "Le passager clandestin dans le transport maritime de marchandises", Centre de droit maritime et de transports, p. 4.
[73] See IMO Manual, "Rescue at sea - A guide to principles and practice as applied to migrants and refugees" - http://www.imo.org/OurWork/Facilitation/IllegalMigrants/Documents/Leaflet%20Rescue%20at%20sea. pdf 4 Definition from the Centre national des ressources textuelles et lexicales (CNRTL).
[74] Gaël Piette, Maritime Law, ed. 10/2018.
[75] IMO Convention to facilitate international maritime traffic.
[76] Chapter 4 of the 2002 amendment to the FAL Convention.
[77] Ian Urbina 'Stowaways and crimes aboard a Scofflaw ship' The New York Times 17 July 2015 para 64
[78] Nick Davies 'Trial of the crew who murdered stowaways'The Guardian 1 November 1995.
[79] Articles 414 and 415 CTMM; 1957 Brussels Convention on Refugees; FAL. 11 (37) as amended in 2002;
[80] "When a stowaway is discovered on a vessel calling at a Togolese port, he or she is reported to the maritime administration for verification of nationality. The latter then hands the stowaway over to the immigration authorities for repatriation" (8 CFR 1 section 241.11(a) (2018), available at https://ecfr.io/Title08/se8.1.241_111, accessed on 13 August 2018).
[81] Article 1er of the Royal Decree of 11 April 2005 states: "A stowaway is any person who, in an irregular manner, is on board a vessel or in the cargo loaded on it, and who is discovered either on board the vessel after departure or in the cargo at the port of destination".
[82] 17 Gard, "Gard Guidance on Stowaways", para 4.2, available at http://www.gard.no/Content/13385148/Guidance%20on%20stowaways.pdf, accessed on 29 July 2018.
[83] Gard, op. cit. 4.2.
[84] UNCHR, op. cit. para 3.
[85] Article 3 UDHR.
[86] This is the case, for example, in countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia,
[87] Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines, according to a publication by Seasia, an Asian P&I club, entitled "Stowaways: Repatriation Corridors from Asia and the Far East" (R Gordon et al Stowaways: Repatriation corridors from Asia & the Far East 6 Ed (2005) 8, available at http://www.kpiclub.or.kr/board/data/file/Library_02/2039258253_VOoYhdJu_Stowaways_Repatriation corridors_from_Asia_26_the_Far_East_287th_Edition29.pdf, accessed on 29 July 2018...
[88] Guidelines on the Allocation of responsibilities to seek the successful resolution of stowaway cases.
[89] Olivier Barsalou, op. cit. p. 3.
[90] Some consider it wise to leave the ultimate responsibility for receiving the rescued asylum seeker to the State whose flag the vessel involved flies, while others intend to assign this responsibility to the State of the first port of call after the discovery. However, more and more commentators are leaning
[91] Olivier Barsalou in "L'interception des réfugiés en mer : un régime juridique aux confins de la normativité", Lex Electronica, vol. 12 n°3 (Winter 2008), p. 14.
[92] See the conclusions of a meeting of representatives of the States party to the SAR Convention, on rescue and interception in the Mediterranean Sea, held on 23 and 24 May 2006 in Madrid, Spain.
[93] Payre (Fanny): "Le passager clandestin en droit maritime", Tome XIV, 1996, p. 293.
[94] Payre (Fanny): Ibidem.
[95] Presentation by Commandant Malbec, "Gestion des passagers clandestins", during the Georges Ripert day organised by the Association française du droit maritime at the Senate on 13 June 1994.
[96] UNHCR 'Note on stowaway asylum-seekers EC/SCP/51' para 5.
[97] Payre (F.): "Le passager clandestin en droit maritime", p. 284.
[98] Article L. 5531-19 of the Transport Code: "The master may, with the prior agreement of the public prosecutor of the territorially competent court on the basis of one of the criteria mentioned in II of article 3 of the law of 17 December 1926 on maritime law enforcement, order the confinement in a closed place, for the time strictly necessary, of a person endangering the preservation of the vessel, its cargo or the safety of persons on board, where the vessel's facilities allow. A minor shall be separated from any other person confined; he may, however, be confined with one or more members of his family, provided that this measure is not such as to endanger the preservation of the ship, its cargo or the safety of persons, including those concerned. In the event of an emergency, the captain shall immediately order the vessel to be detained and shall immediately inform the public prosecutor in order to obtain his agreement.
[99] Instead of confinement for a measure taken on one's own initiative in the open sea without the authority's prior agreement.
[100] The Council of Europe has encouraged the UNHCR and the IMO to work together on "the feasibility of a single legal instrument on the treatment of stowaways seeking asylum, including provisions on the determination of the State responsible for processing asylum applications from stowaways, the treatment of stowaways on board and the maximum period of detention on board".
[101] Article 29 of France's CDPMM: "At the request of the public prosecutor [...] or with his agreement, the master may order the confinement in a closed place, for the time strictly necessary, of a person endangering the preservation of the ship, its cargo or the safety of persons on board, where the ship's facilities so permit".
[102] Myria, "Le statut juridique des passagers clandestins, les droits de l'homme restent-ils à quai?", p. 14.
[103] The Federal Migration Centre. Myria specialises in defending the rights of foreign nationals and combating human trafficking and smuggling.
[104] Law no. 92-625 of 6 July 1992 on waiting areas in ports and airports, known as the Quilès Law. This is a derogatory law involving deprivation of liberty.
[105] Myria, op. cit, p. 17.
[106] Migreurop, 2011, p. 73.
[107] Payre (Fanny): "Le passager clandestin en droit maritime", Tome XIV, 1996, p. 291.
[108] FAL II (37), Sections 5.3.3, 5.6.1 & 5.7.1.
[109] Walters (W.), "Bordering the sea: shipping industries and the policing of stowaways [1]", (2008) 12 (1)
[110] Borderlands e-journal 3, available at http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.522.6383&rep=rep1&type=pdf, accessed on 29 July 2018.
[111] Article 24 of decree no. 2022/050 of 21 April 2022 on the implementation of law no. 2022-005 of 15 April 2022 on the Aliens Police in the Togolese Republic. 6 Walters (W.), op. cit. 13.
[112] Migreurop, 2011, p. 85.
[113] Bécirspahic Léa, L'obligation de rapatriement des individus en droit international public, 2021, p. 14. 11 FAL II (37), Section 3.9 12 Ibd. Section 5.5.2.
[114] Article 415 of the CTMM: "Where no State recognises the stowaway as its national, the maritime administration shall authorise the stowaway to be returned to the State in which the port which it considers to be his port of embarkation.
[115] Migreurop, 2011, op. cit
[116] See the case of Abdel Hakim Tizegha, an Algerian stowaway who entered Boston fraudulently on board an Algerian LNG tanker and was granted asylum after a series of trials, despite having been indirectly involved in the foiled millennium bombing plan as an associate of Ahmed Ressam. See Janice L. Kephart, "Immigration and Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorism Travel, Connections", The Quarterly Journal, Vol.5, No.2, Fall 2006, p.56.
[117] Migreurop 2011, op. cit. p. 45.
[118] Boubtane Ekrame, Immigration: what are the economic effects?
[119] Even if they are rarely highly qualified, such as doctors, public works engineers, lawyers, top-level jurists, architects, etc.
[120] Boubtane Ekrame, op. cit.
[121] FAL.2/Circ.43.
[122] Ibid, p. 20.
[123] Maquet (P.) and Burtin (J.), "Les passagers clandestins sur les navires de marine marchande: de la gestion d'un événement à la production d'un risque", 33 Walter, 2008, p.5.
[124] Payre (F.): "Le passager clandestin en droit maritime", p. 294.
[125] Law no. 94-1136 of 27 December 1994 amending order no. 45-2658 of 2 November 1945 relating to the conditions of entry and residence of foreign nationals in France.
[126] Ibid, p. 295.
[127] P&I International, "Migration reforms: All non-citizens subject to visa requirements", March 1995, p. 45-46.

Keywords:

Disembarkation, Repatriation, Stowaway, Maritime law.