Australia and 10 other governments are urging the International Maritime Organization to consider being more transparent.
Their specific proposal is a confidential document, pursuant to current IMO rules, but the Australian government revealed a few details about it in a statement provided to eyeonglobaltransparency.net.
The statement says that one goal is “providing better public access to meetings and documents.”
Noting that other United Nations bodies “already publish meeting documents and decisions, and some even live-broadcast meetings,” the Australian statement says, “It should therefore be a straight-forward decision for the IMO to keep up with the broader United Nations framework.”
Eyeonglobaltransparency.net described opaque practices at the IMO in a recent series of articles. See them here.
The Australian proposal, and pre-meeting materials in general, are nonpublic until after decision-making meetings. The documents shared among the member governments, however are also provided to industry groups and other nongovernmental organizations accredited by the IMO.
The Australian proposal, according to several persons who have seen it, is not detailed, but suggests general directions for reform, including for some broad restructuring. It asks the Council to create a working group on IMO reform, including transparency.
The Council is scheduled to consider the proposals at its upcoming July 2-6 meeting.
The full statement by a spokesperson for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reads:
The proposal covers a range of reforms but highlights in particular increasing transparency and providing better public access to meetings and documents. Most United Nations organisations already publish meeting documents and decisions, and some even live-broadcast meetings. It should therefore be a straight-forward decision for the IMO to keep up with the broader United Nations framework. It’s too early to say how the Council will consider the proposal going forward. That will be a matter for the 40 members to decide when the proposal is discussed next week at the Council’s 120th session.
