Declaration Condemning Acts of Violence Against Seafarers (Washington Declaration)

The Declaration Condemning Acts of Violence Against Seafarers (“Washington Declaration”) is a declaration of flag states designed to ensure post-pirate attack incident reports are filed with the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). These reports are focused on tracking the level and type of violence pirates’ use against seafarers. The signatories commit to work further ‘with ship owners and seafarers to ascertain the specific information needed to determine the human cost of these attacks’ to the IMB. The collated data will be used to see how hostages are treated and to determine trends in violence used by pirates.