Deputy Secretary General, INTERPORTPOLICE
Chris Trelawny was commissioned as Deputy Secretary General of INTERPORTPOLICE on 1 January 2022.  In addition to his INTERPORTPOLICE duties, in 2022 he worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as a consultant developing a regional maritime security strategy for Caribbean countries.

Prior to that, Chris served the International Maritime Organization (IMO) having joined in March 2003 as a maritime security specialist, serving as Head of Section, Senior Deputy Director and, in November 2014, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Maritime Security and Facilitation.  In 2018 he was appointed to the new post of Chief, Sub-Division for Maritime Development within the Technical Cooperation Division (TCD). From January to October 2020, he was Acting Director of TCD.  He left IMO in December 2021.

During his time at IMO, Chris had been responsible for advising and liaising with IMO Member Governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations on the facilitation of global maritime transport, maritime security, piracy and law enforcement related issues, including the smuggling of migrants by sea. His major projects have included writing and delivering the IMO maritime security “Train the Trainer” course and the development of multi-disciplinary, multi-agency projects aimed at finding national and regional solutions for piracy and maritime security challenges. These include the development of the 2009 Djibouti Code of Conduct  (signed by 20 countries) aimed at addressing Somalia based piracy, the 2013 Yaoundé Code of Conduct for West and Central Africa, (signed by  25 countries) and,  in January 2017, the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct (signed by 16 countries) that widens the scope of the original code to address a range of maritime crimes.  His published work includes a chapter in the IMLI Treatise on Global Ocean Governance Volume III and numerous articles in international journals.  He has also had management oversight of the IMO Women in Maritime programme.

Chris has also worked closely with navies on issues relating to maritime security operations, counter proliferation and civil/military cooperation; and with other agencies on issues such as security of the supply chain.  In 2014 Chris was awarded the UK Merchant Navy Medal for “services to counter-piracy strategy and to Royal Navy/Merchant Navy liaison”.  In 2016 he was awarded the United Kingdom Marine Society’s Thomas Grey Medal and the United States International Police and Public Safety 9/11 Medal – Maritime for his significant contribution to maritime security.
Before joining IMO, Chris spent six years with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as the Aviation Security Training Officer (also leading on air cargo security) and four years with the UK Government in aviation security roles, including the introduction of the UK air cargo security programme; and eight years with HM Customs in law enforcement roles, largely at Heathrow Airport but also at sea on HM Customs Cutters.  

Chris served for 30 years as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve and is a Younger Brother of Trinity House.