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37 J. Mar. L. & Com. 219 (2006)
Criminalization of Seafarers for Accidental Discharge of Oil: Is There Justification in International Law for Criminal Sanction for Negligent or Accidental Pollution of the Sea

handle is hein.journals/jmlc37 and id is 227 raw text is: Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce, Vol. 37, No. 2, April, 2006 CRIMINALIZATION OF SEAFARERS FOR ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE OF OIL: IS THERE JUSTIFICATION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR CRIMINAL SANCTION FOR NEG- LIGENT OR ACCIDENTAL POLLUTION OF THE SEA? Olagunju G. Anthony* I INTRODUCTION The recent Directive adopted by the European Union, imposing punitive sanctions on seafarers has attracted wide reactions within maritime circles. In fact, in its reaction to the proposal of the Directive made earlier, by the Commission of the Union, the International Federation of Shipmasters' Associations (IFSMA) titled the theme of its conference, held at the Lloyd's Maritime Academy in London between 17th and 18th of February 2005: The 1st International Conference on the Criminalisation of Masters and Seafarers.' Before the latest steps by the EU, three incidents, involving pollution had already occurred on separate occasions, in France and Spain, and another one in Pakistan. The one in France led to the detention of the master, just as the one in Spain led to the arrest and trial of the Captain. In the case of Pakistan, seven crewmembers and the salvage master (who only arrived in *LL.B., LL.M., Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, and the Institute of Maritime Law, Lagos State University, Nigeria. Presently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany. The author is grateful to the authorities of the Institute for the grant that facilitated this research and other works. http://www.debomaolagunju2004@yaboo.com. 'The Association, after having arrived at certain resolutions concerning the issue at the conference, pledged to take those resolutions to the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Some of those resolutions are that: criminalisation is a backward way to treat seafarers, and will not encourage good seamanship for the future; seafarers can be denied the normally accepted human rights that are available even to hardened criminals and; it is important to work towards an International instrument to protect seafarers. Deliberate crimes should not be co-mingled with accidents and seafarers should be treated fairly and genuine accidents must not become criminal acts. See http://www.ifsma.org.

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