Intervene in migrant standoff, shipping chamber urges UN maritime agency

The International Chamber of Shipping has called on the International Maritime Organisation to "urgently intervene" in the Maersk Etienne standoff, which has seen 27 migrants stranded on the oil tanker that rescued them.
The tanker has been anchored on Hurd’s Bank, just outside Maltese territorial waters, for more than a month.
“Send a clear message that states must ensure that maritime search-and-rescue incidents are resolved in accordance with the letter and spirit of international law," the chamber (ICS) said in a letter to the IMO.
International law and maritime conventions place clear obligations on ships and coastal states to ensure people in distress are rescued and promptly disembarked in a place of safety. The Etienne fulfilled its responsibilities, but now finds itself in a diplomatic game of pass the parcel, the chamber said in a statement issued in collaboration with the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Although the narrative has been challenged by Maersk, rescue organisations and international migration organisations, the Maltese government has insisted that the rescue by the Etienne on August 4 was never in Malta’s search-and-rescue...