Published: November 4, 2026
LONDON — Liberia urged the parties to armed conflicts on major shipping routes to guarantee safe passage for commercial vessels and their crews, telling the International Maritime Organization on Tuesday that seafarers must never become casualties of geopolitical hostilities.
Liberia’s maritime commissioner, Neto Zarzar Lighe Sr., delivered the government’s general statement at the IMO’s 138th Council session in London. He raised concerns about ongoing attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Strait of Hormuz. In those waters, the statement said, thousands of vessels and seafarers are trapped by military operations.
“Seafarers are innocent civilian professionals performing legitimate duties essential to international trade and the global economy. They must never become targets or casualties of armed conflicts and geopolitical hostilities,” the statement said.
Lighe said the attacks continue to endanger seafarers, damage ships, disrupt international trade and cost lives. He offered Liberia’s condolences to the families of seafarers killed in the attacks.
The statement called on those controlling conflict-affected waters to ensure that commercial vessels and their crews can pass safely under international law. It said freedom of navigation and the right of innocent passage under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea must be respected. It described the protection of seafarers as a fundamental humanitarian obligation and urged all parties to guarantee their safety, security, dignity and humane treatment.
Liberia also urged the parties to the conflicts to exercise maximum restraint, stop fighting and pursue dialogue and diplomacy. It warned that the hostilities are causing human suffering, threatening international peace, disrupting global supply chains and imposing severe economic costs on countries worldwide, particularly developing economies.
The government thanked IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez and other international partners for their work to protect seafarers stranded or endangered in conflict zones. It also thanked governments, maritime authorities and institutions that have assisted Liberian-flagged vessels and their crews during maritime security incidents.
“The seas must remain corridors of peaceful commerce, international cooperation, and human progress – not theatres of conflict, violence, and human suffering,” the statement said.
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