European coasts were destroyed by oil from the sunken tanker Erika. What can we now expect from the Ievoli Sun?, the tanker that recently sank off the French coast.
We 'd like to let you know our point of view in this dreadful matter.
Our association, France Radio Club has been dedicated to independent broadcasting for over 26 years. One could say there's no link. Unfortunately there is a strong one.
What will follow will shock you because it's only the truth, another truth.
Before all this, let's talk about the accomplices.
The accomplices are those who govern the countries, which today say how sorry they feel. They tell us they are helpless as far as oil companies, ship owners, vessels or flags of convenience are concerned. The reality is different.
Governments worldwide, and politicians have the power to enforce laws and to have them respected. We are referring to international agreements.
Two unquestionable facts:
1. Whenever vessels didn't reach safety standards or were caught discharging oil into the sea, governments didn't have international agreements respected.
2. Whenever they did try to have them respected, they were not applicable and they were not dissuasive.
Why was nothing done? There was no answer from the officials, and some of them pretended that it is not up to governments to take those kind of measures.
On the other hand, by signing international agreements, and having those agreements respected, means they share a common interest.
Whereas it is not possible to control at sea any dangerous or possibly dangerous vessel, any government is able to go onto international seas to arrest people by sheer force, to tow their ship into a harbour and have her held there, because she is suspected of carrying… a radio transmitter on board.
This is considered legal, and on top of it can be done without any agreement from the country she belonged to.
Articles 109 and 110 of UNCLOS allow such behaviour. The British government added another one which granted total immunity to the people who carried out these acts. They could even resort to killing without any problem or control ( UK Broadcast Act 1990 ). As for the unfortunates who could get injured, they were not given the right to appeal to justice for a fair trial. If a journalist writes about one of these radio stations in one of his articles, he takes the risk of being imprisoned for two years. It is the same for those who bring supplies to these very dangerous ships.
Therefore it is possible to control and arrest dangerous ships. It is possible to act against those who are responsible but only when radio stations broadcasting from a ship are concerned. This type of action is not even allowed for ships transporting drugs!
Governments have obtained what they were looking for. Because of the laws about offshore radio stations, 40 armed officials attacked Radio Caroline’s transmitter, reducing to silence the most famous independent radio station of all times. The fear is still strong among those who wish to bring back to life this legend of the world of the media.
Governments can act when they want to. They found the will to protect themselves against free programmes broadcast from ships playing the music they wished to play without the control of anyone.
What about ships transporting nuclear waste and hazardous rubbish who sail near our coasts and destroy them? They have done nothing. Absolutely nothing! Do independent radio stations pollute more than the oil we now find on our beaches?
Measures should be taken immediately so that our coasts and the coasts of other countries are not destroyed by irresponsible people.
There is a very simple solution: to modify the international agreements on the rights at sea in articles 109 and 110 and turn
"ships suspected of containing transmitters"
into
"ships suspected of causing possible dangerous ecological damage".
All the people mentioned share an equal responsibility. All equally agreed on granting more importance to their political environment than to our natural environment.
What sentence should be pronounced ?
It would be an extremely powerful means of exerting pressure over our governments to fight ecological catastrophies in the sea and to take this cause seriously into account.
FRANCE RADIO CLUB / 2001.