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Pirates Use Seafarers as Human Shields

The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) reported today that sailors are used by the pirates as human shields to continue their engagement in piracy.

IMO condemned the act as Somali pirates continued to detain seven crew members of a recently released ship even though a ransom had been reportedly paid.

Six officers and one other crew member of the M/V Asphalt Venture are being held at an undisclosed location after the ship and the rest of the people aboard were released by pirates off Somalia last Thursday, nearly seven months after they were hijacked.

In a statement issued yesterday from its London headquarters, IMO stressed that it deplores all acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships and the treatment of seafarers held hostage.

"Using seafarers as human shields to continue to engage in piracy - one of the most heinous of crimes against humanity at sea - is totally unacceptable."-IMO

IMO is backing a new "Save Our Seafarers" campaign launched by the shipping industry, saying that the safety and well-being of sailors should be of paramount importance to any strategy to respond to piracy.

The agency's statement comes amid mounting international concern about the problem of piracy, particularly in the waters off Somalia.

Source: United Nations