Sasakawa receives the prize on behalf of the Foundation

On May 5th, the Malta-based International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) celebrated its 20th anniversary with a ceremony held at the London office of the International Maritime Organization. An important part of IMLI’s mission is the education of maritime law experts from developing countries, in order to correct the global imbalance in this area. At the ceremony, Nippon Foundation chairman Yohei Sasakawa received the IMLI Award on behalf of The Nippon Foundation, in honor of its long years of support in the field.

Following speeches by IMLI President Attard and representatives from the government of Malta, Sasakawa delivered a reception address in which he proposed that, in order to deal with modern piracy, the United Nations establish an Ocean Peacekeeping force, or OPK, to complement the land-based PKO that is active around the world.

In 2003, The Nippon Foundation established a fellowship fund at IMLI, and since then 56 maritime specialists from 32 countries have received educations under this system. This year as well, 10 specialists are being supported through the continuing fellowship program.

Further, plans have been laid for the establishment of two programs of study: “Preservation of the Marine Environment,” and “Maritime Peace and Security.” In his speech, Sasakawa noted, “Our hope is that these two new courses, together with the Institute’s traditional global network, will result in the emergence of outstanding human resources from Malta -- professionals who will proactively take part in and positively influence the creation of rules of the sea at IMO, and who will not only follow existing rules, but also possess flexibility to deal appropriately with the changes affecting the world’s oceans. We are confident the two new courses will provide rich soil for developing the human resources on whose shoulders will rest the future stability of international marine order.”

View of the Ceremony

He also touched upon the many instances of piracy in the Gulf of Somalia, stressing the importance of a new international framework to deal with pirates -- an enemy that all countries of the world hold in common. He said, “I think the time has come for mankind to pool its collective wisdom and implement new activities, under the UN’s leadership, to restore peace to the world’s oceans. We might call such activities an “OPK” -- ocean peacekeeping -- initiative.”

He further explained, “I hear that IMO is now coordinating internationally to strengthen and develop coast guard forces in the coastal nations affected by the recent spate of piracy and that the final goal is for those nations to take charge of counter-piracy duties themselves. My OPK agenda would be an efficient response to the needs of the international community until the new coast guard systems are fully prepared. The nations of the world would join forces and act in unison….

“The activities I envision, however, would include monitoring -- from the air and otherwise -- the coastal areas near pirate strongholds. The information gathered this way would then be used by naval vessels to crack down on and prevent piracy, including blocking the transport by sea of weapons to the pirates.

IMLI, established by the IMO in 1988, is situated on the Mediterranean island of Malta.