For Immediate release From International Cruse Victims Australia 22 February 2008 Cruise company still not caring
The treatment of a P & O cruise passenger that departed from New Zealand for a New Years Eve cruise has again highlighted inadequate procedures following the report of an alleged crime.
Speaking on behalf of the New Zealand woman involved in the incident, Mark Brimble who is the Australian President of International Cruise Victims said, The events that followed the report to the alleged rape and the care taken afterwards were far from adequate Mr Brimble said.
After meeting with the woman in Auckland who has chosen to remain anonymous Mr Brimble said again a person involved in a potential crime onboard a ship was not only thrust into a murky jurisdictional nightmare with no authority seeming to want to investigate the matter but the woman in question walked the gangplank. P&O have stated since the onboard death of Dianne Brimble in 2002 that procedures to care for victims had change.
Why then did this lady get walked off the ship in the port of Noumea with the cruise company letting her get a cab on her own and then to have to travel back to New Zealand without any pre arrangement for someone to meet her at the airport in New Zealand. This all sounds very familiar. It was the same treatment Diannes family were given when they arrive at the same port after Dianne was found dead in the cabin of four strange men said Mr Brimble. Anyone who is involved in a potential crime that has possibly damaging physiological effects should be treated by dedicated people who are there just the same as they are if you were in your own country. After reporting the incident and attending the medical centre the woman was subject to a 7 hour wait to complete the necessary tests and there is doubt they were conducted properly. She told me that the ships doctor had to keep calling the head office in America to find out how to carry out the test correctly. In the meeting with the woman involved she said not only was told to stay in the medical centre until the tests were performed but that the alleged man involved was also in the medical centre without her knowledge said Mark Brimble
You give up your safety and security when you board a ship to take a holiday and share the close company of strangers. Where are the laws that say cruise companies should have personnel employed to certain standards? Who do they employ to ensure traumatised people are cared for and what happens to the cruise companies if they dont?
Mr Brimble has been calling on the federal Government in Australia and New Zealand to put laws into place to ensure these cruise companies meet certain standards. We cant allow cruise ships to remain unregulated. When a potential crime happens onboard a ship it seems the federal authorities of countries involved with the ship are confused as to who should be in charge. Also cruise companies dont seem to have a federal authority they can report all potential crimes to in Australia and New Zealand. Its time for the governments to take charge and put the laws in place which are not thereto make theses cruise companies accountable
International Cruise Victims represents victims of crime on cruise ships, their families and friends, and individuals concerned about the problems of victimisation and disappearances on cruise ships. With several hundred members, the organization advocates for legislative reform to protect passengers from crimes and increase the rights of victims of crimes that do occur on cruise ships, and provides support to victims of crimes occurring on cruise ships. The goal of the organization is to contribute to growing a cruise industry where passengers and crew members are safe and secure from victimisation while onboard a cruise ship.
