Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2010
The National Lifeboat Societies and State-maintained rescue services, members of the International Lifeboat Conference (ILC), unanimously adopted the report by their special working group on the protection of rescue craft in periods of armed conflicts. The report was drawn up after the meeting in Geneva from 16 to 18 April 1984 of that working group, comprising representatives of the ILC, of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It contains recommendations for improving the protection of rescue craft and their crews and of fixed coastal installations and staff of lifeboat institutions in periods of armed conflict.
1 “Lifeboats” from ships other than hospital ships are protected by the Convention only when they are transporting the shipwrecked, the wounded or the sick.
2 See IMO—Search and Rescue Manual, p. 41 Google Scholar; and Merchant Ships SAR Manual (Mersar) Editions in English, French and Spanish. IMO publications, London.
3 The Convention on the Law of the Sea had been ratified, by the end of January 1985, by seven States; to become effective it must be ratified by 60 States.
4 The term “rescue operation” is examined below.
5 IMO SAR Manual: 3.3.3. Utilization of vessels for SAR purposes, p. 41.Google Scholar
6 The List of Ship Stations contains, for example, the following classification abbreviations:
Bta = factory ship
Cgt = coast-guard
Div = ship used by divers
Dou = customs launch
Fps = fast patrol ship
Hop = hospital ship
Ins = inspection ship
Phs = fishing guard
Ram = salvage ship
Sau = rescue vessel
Sec = stand-by safety vessel
Tug = Tug-boat
etc., etc.
7 Pictet, J., Commentary, II Geneva Convention, ICRC, 1960; Art. 27, p. 173.Google Scholar
8 Pictet, J., Commentary, II Geneva Convention, ICRC, 1960; Art. 12, p. 90.Google Scholar