Council 120th session, 2-5 July 2018

International Maritime Prize for 2017 to go to Mrs. Birgit Sølling Olsen
The Council decided to award the International Maritime Prize for 2017 to Mrs. Birgit Sølling Olsen, former Deputy Director-General of the Danish Maritime Authority. (See Briefing 12/2018.)

Rescue diver from China who saved three to be recognized with IMO bravery accolade
The Council endorsed the decision of a Panel of Judges to give the 2018 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery At Sea to a rescue diver from China who made a series of underwater dives to rescue three people from a sunken cargo ship. (See Briefing 14/2018).

World Maritime Day theme for 2019
"Empowering Women in the Maritime Community" was selected as the World Maritime Day theme for 2019. This will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality, in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and to highlight the important contribution of women all over the world to the maritime sector. (See Briefing 13/2018).

Review and reform
The Council discussed a number of proposals aimed at reforming the Council, including those relating to the Council’s role in policy making; size and geographical distribution; and conduct of campaigns for election.

The Council decided to establish a working group, open to all member States, to meet at the next session, C 121 (19-23 November 2018), to consider in more detail, the various Council reform proposals. 

Member States were invited to submit, at C 121, further proposals under the broader heading "Council reforms". The Chair and Vice-Chair, in consultation with the Secretary General, were invited to prepare draft terms of reference to be agreed by the Council prior to the convening of the working group. 

The IMO Secretariat was requested to provide any relevant information on the composition and functions of the councils or equivalent governing bodies of other United Nations system organizations, in particular those of other specialized agencies, as appropriate, for consideration at C 121. The Secretariat was also requested to provide information on any technical, administrative and financial implications of the Council reform proposals for consideration at the next session.

Access to documents and audio files
Access to documents and audio files was discussed. The Council decided to authorize the release of the audio files of the plenary meetings only of the IMO Assembly to the public, via the IMO documents (https://docs.imo.org/) website.

The Council also decided to remove any restriction explicit or implied on sponsors of documents, so that those who wish to release their documents to the public via IMODOCS prior to a meeting can do so. In addition, documents submitted by the IMO Secretariat to committee meetings will be made available to the public (with the ability for committees to designate specific Secretariat documents as private and non-releasable in advance).