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INTRODUCTION
Background
In response to the concern expressed by a number of Member Governments and international organizations regarding the increasing incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships, the IMO Assembly adopted, in November 1983, resolution A.545(13) Measures to prevent acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships. In that resolution the Assembly urged Governments to 'take, as a matter of the highest priority, all measures necessary to prevent and suppress acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships in or adjacent to their waters.
The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the Organization, at its forty-ninth session in April 1984, established "Piracy and armed robbery against ships" as a separate and fixed item in its work programme. Under this agenda item, the Committee has received, since its fiftieth session, a summary of all reports on piracy and armed robbery against ships submitted by Member Governments and international organizations concerned. The reports contain, where available, the names and descriptions of the ships attacked, their positions and times of attack, consequences to the crew, ship or cargo and actions taken by the crew and coastal States to which the incidents were reported. Nearly 400 such attacks have been brought to the attention of the MSC between the Committee's fiftieth session and the end of March 1993.
In February 1986, the MSC decided that reports on piracy and armed robbery against ships received by the Secretariat should be forwarded to the port or coastal States concerned for comments and advice on the actions they had taken with regard to the incidents reported and that any relevant information provided by the coastal States should be reported to its future sessions.
To ensure that full details of all incidents are provided, the Committee adopted, in May 1991, a format on information Member Governments or international organizations should include in any report on acts of piracy and armed robbery they submit to the Organization.
In view of the continuing rise in the number of such unlawful acts reported and realizing that many others are not brought to the attention of the Organization, the Assembly, at its seventeenth session in October/November 1991, adopted resolution A.683(17) - Prevention and suppression of acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships, which urged Member Governments to report to the Organization all incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships under their flags and invited coastal States to increase their efforts to prevent and suppress such acts committed in their waters.
Since the fifty-ninth session of the MSC (May 1991), all reports received by the Secretariat are first circulated to Member Governments and international organizations on a quarterly basis and a summary of all reports received between successive MSC sessions are presented to the Committee together with an analysis of such incidents illustrated with diagrams and graphs on a regional basis.
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