SOS SaveOurSeafarers, a high profile, shipping industry anti-piracy campaign is taking its message to celluloid with the launch of a short video highlighting the human and economic cost of Somali piracy.
The six-minute video highlights the significant threat of Somali piracy attacks for the worldwide seafarer community and potentially for world trade itself.
The video, which is also posted on YouTube, uses a mixture of hard-hitting real life interviews, and the latest technology to create a hard-hitting action sequence where a ship is captured and hostages taken. This is followed by a harrowing testimony from a former hostage, and comments from the EUNAVFOR Chief of Staff, and from InterManager President Alastair Evitt, representing the SOS Steering Committee.
Commenting on the video, Mr Evitt said: “This footage and the personal testimony from the seafarer are very thought-provoking. I urge everyone to visit the SOS website and to support this vital campaign to help raise international awareness and encourage world leaders to do more to eradicate piracy. We cannot allow our seafarers to endure this treatment!”
In the video footage Mr Evitt advises viewers to click on the SOS website link to send a letter to their national politicians. He says: “Send a letter – it will make a difference!”
Bill Box from SaveOurSeafarers, commented: “Whilst recent incidents such as the high-profile kidnappings of Judith Tebutt and Marie Dedieu have put the issue in the headlines, these two incidents barely scrape the surface of this ongoing crisis.
“Seafarers have been constantly under threat from Somali pirates for the last five years, with at times more than 800 innocent seafarers being held hostage for months on end in appalling conditions and facing mental and physical torture at the hands of their captors. Piracy costs the global economy as much as £12billion a year and continues to threaten key transport routes through the Indian Ocean.”
The SOS campaign, launched in March 2011, is made up of the largest ever grouping of international seafarers’ organisations, shipping companies and shipping industry associations. It has already received backing from the British, Philippine and Georgian governments and has seen support from 180 countries.
Full information on the campaign can be found at www.saveourseafarers.com
The video can also be viewed by the following direct link:
The Problem Of Piracy Affects Us All
