Disembarkation and Repatriation of Stowaways in Maritime Law

This article examines the issue of disembarkation and repatriation of stowaways discovered on board merchant ships and the attitude of States in this respect.The attitude of States is to refuse disembarkation while penalising shipowners for entering their ports with stowaways on board.This attitude is all the more incomprehensible given that the carriers are not the only ones to blame for having stowaways on board.The stowaways had to breach the ship's interface (the port enclosure) before reaching the ship.Responsibility for the failure of prevention must be shared.The 1957 Brussels Convention on stowaways did just that.Unfortunately, it has not entered into force due to insufficient ratifications.Other texts have also tried, in particular Chapter 4 of the FAL Convention, which was amended in 2002 by the IMO, but to no avail, despite the commitments made by the States.