FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Your risk of being sexually assaulted is much higher on a cruise ship than in the average American city.

Thats the message that Ross Klein, professor at a Canadian university, brought to Congress last week. One has a 50% greater chance of sexual assault on a Royal Caribbean International ship as compared to the US generally, Klein told a House of Representatives subcommittee on March 27. He explained that the figures for Royal Caribbean are comparable to those for the industry as a whole and were used for the sake of clarity.

Klein, professor of social work at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, has written numerous books, articles, and reports on the cruise industry and maintains two blogs concerned with the industry.

Dr. Foxs, hired by the cruise lines to develop crime rates for March 7, 2006 Congressional Hearings, had asserted that the rate of sexual assault on cruise ships is 17.6 per 100,000. Dr. Klein testimony, however, indicated that on the most conservative basis, the actual crime rate is almost three times greater, 48.065 per 100,000. As a result of his testimony, the reliability of any judgments based on those industry figures must be called into question.

A summary of his findings our shown in the following chart:

Rate of Sex Related Shipboard Incidents

(Based upon data released as a result of a Court Order

and published in the LA Times on January 20, 2007)

• Annual rate of all sex-related shipboard incidents (per100,000):  161.996 
• Annual rate of sexual assaults (per 100,000):    48.065
• US rate for sexual assaults (per 100,000):    32.200

The numbers indicate that the cruise industry has a problem and they appear either unwilling or unable to deal with it, Klein added. His testimony added further evidence to support the belief of ICV that cruise ship passengers are ill-served, sometimes fatally so, by the current security efforts of cruise lines. 

Kendall Carver, President of ICV, indicated, the testimony of Professor Klein is a valuable addition to the growing store of data that point to major problems in the cruise industry. Through advertising, the industry has created the sense that cruise ships offer a carefree, no-risk vacation. Far too many people have learned at their own cost that this is untrue. ICV exists to promote the safety of passengers and crew and to prevent more victims. 

The written testimony of Dr. Klein and of other witnesses from the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing (entitled Crimes Against Americans on Cruise Ships) is posted on the Committees website: http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=112

For more information about the International Cruise Victims Association, please visit www.internationalcruisevictims.org or write to info@internationalcruisevictims.org, phone 425-753-7711, fax 206-374-2944.