Posts filed under 'Law of the Sea'
November 15th, 2009 at 11:00pm
On Tuesday, November 10, the navies of North and South Korea exchanged fire in disputed waters off the western coast of the peninsula, damaging ships from both sides and reportedly killing a North Korean sailor. The incident began when a 215-ton North Korean vessel entered South Korean-controlled waters. Ignoring warnings from the South, the ship exchanged fire with two 130-ton South Korean vessels before re-crossing the border, reportedly in flames. The North, which claims the waters where the incident took place, has blamed the South for instigating the confrontation and issued repeated warnings through its state news service.
South Korea’s options in responding to this incident are limited. Seoul’s right to military retaliation is constrained by the ongoing border dispute. The end of the Korean War never produced a peace treaty, and the North and South have technically been observing a truce since 1953. The North has never accepted the current sea boundary, a UN-drawn border called the northern limit line, and its ships regularly stray into waters controlled by the South. In this context, the South cannot make an undisputed claim that its territory was invaded.
South Korea’s options for less direct action are similarly constrained. While the South could initiate economic sanctions and asset-freezing, it believes that such measures could add to the desperate poverty of the North’s citizens and slow the recent détente between the two countries. In a sign that the confrontation has not altered trade relationships, a North Korean freighter was allowed to enter South Korean waters yesterday on its way to Incheon. Meanwhile, any attempt to arbitrate the dispute before an international body would require the consent of one of the most isolationist regimes in the world.
The North has a history of initiating skirmishes in order to escalate pressure before major regional events; the last time the countries clashed was in 2002, while the South was hosting the World Cup. In this case, analysts believe, the North may be trying to send a message to President Obama, who is currently visiting the region and is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday. North Korea wants a formal peace treaty to replace the 1953 truce, including reconsideration of disputed territory. It also wants bilateral negotiations with the U.S., which it believes could lead to its acceptance as a nuclear power. President Obama, who has made engagement with “rogue states” a cornerstone of his foreign policy, plans to send special envoy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang for talks over ending the North’s nuclear program.
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March 25th, 2009 at 09:00am
The United Nations released a new report last week on pirate activity in Somalia. The report identifies two main groups of pirates, but is especially concerned that the piracy network based in the northern Puntland region of the country, known as the Eyle Group, is collaborating with regional government officials. Despite these accusations, many political leaders in Puntland have recommitted to fighting the piracy problem.
In 2008 there were a total of 111 attacks on ships, a 200% increase over 2007, and there have been seven incidents in January and February of this year. Somalia’s government collapsed in 1991 and foreign vessels flooded the country’s territorial waters, drawn by the prospect of unlimited and unregulated fishing. Somali leaders say that piracy is an offshoot of the wider problem of illegal fishing, and the UN report stresses that restoring order within Somalia is critical to solving the piracy problem.
The UN is especially concerned about transporting food aid because approximately 95% of food aid to Somalia arrives by sea and approximately 2.4 million people rely on that aid for survival. NATO, the EU, Russia, and China are all contributing to a policing fleet in Somalia, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has urged UN member states in the region to contribute any naval resources they can spare to combating piracy.
For more information, please click here and here.
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March 18th, 2009 at 11:51am
The U.S. and China are currently engaged in a skirmish over a confrontation which occurred in the South China Sea and involved five small Chinese vessels and an unarmed American surveillance vessel, the USNS Impeccable. The US claims that the Chinese vessels harassed its ship in violation of the law of the seas, while China claims that the US intruded on an economic exclusion zone in violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Admiral Timothy Keating, the head of the Pacific Command, declined to comment on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s response, but noted the American reaction would come through the State Department. The Chinese embassy in Washington issued a statement after the incident clarifying its position.
For further information, please click here and here.
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February 16th, 2009 at 08:56pm
In the wake of steadily increasing aggression on the part of pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden, law enforcement mechanisms for preventing piracy are falling short. Eugene Kontorovich, a scholar of international law at Northwestern Law School claims that new tools are needed to combat piracy in the waterways off Somalia that carry about one-third of the world’s seaborne trade.
The international community has recently tried to fill this security deficit. A new U.N. Security Council resolution, strongly backed by the United States, authorizes military attacks on suspected pirates in the area in and around the Aden Gulf. The authorization includes attacks on land bases, even when those bases are in Somali territory. Additionally, the U.K. and Kenya have agreed that the British Royal Navy will submit all pirates it captures during operations around Somalia to trial in domestic courts in Mombasa.
Kontorovich claims that these measures are responses to a larger inability of international criminal law to address the problem of piracy. As international law favors trials over direct engagement, Kontorovich argues that the international community will, and should, turn away from judicial remedies to control piracy. He believes that granting pirates the full spectrum of rights due criminal defendants unfairly ties the hands of the world community. Yet, he also argues that the credibility of international criminal law is at stake. Kontrovich believes that that if international criminal law fails to effectively combat piracy, it will not bode well for its ability to prevent or punish graver war crimes.
For further information, please click here.
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February 16th, 2009 at 11:19am
On February 11, 2008, the Ukrainian arms freighter ‘Faina’ returned to the Kenyan Port of Mombasa with twenty sailors. The ship had been captured by Somali Pirates in the Gulf of Aden region more than four months ago, and was released after a ransom of $3.2 Million was para-dropped onto the ship by its owner. The capture of the ship was of particular concern to the international community because it was carrying arms including T-72 tanks, grenade launchers, antiaircraft guns, and substantial ammunition. For more information on this story click here.
Pirates have attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden region in 2008. In an unrelated event five suspected Somali pirates have been extradited to Netherlands for the failed attempt to hijack the Dutch Cargo Freighter ‘Samanyulo’ on 2nd January 2009. They will be prosecuted before the Dutch criminal courts and could face up to nine years of imprisonment if found to be guilty with the group leaders punishment extending up to 12 years. For more information on this story click here.
In another piracy-related event in the Gulf of Aden, the US Navy arrested seven suspected pirates on February 11, 2009, who were attempting to hijack the tanker ‘Polaris’. The seven suspects were taken aboard the USS Vella Gulf, which has been patrolling the area since January 2009 in responnse to the heightened piracy threat in the region. The US Navy intends to hand over the suspects to Kenya, which is setting up a new court system to try foreign pirates. For more information please click here.
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February 9th, 2009 at 10:33am
Pirates and Kenyan officials reported that the Somali pirates, who hijacked the Ukrainian arms freighter Faina over four months ago, were finally paid the ransom they demanded. The ship’s owners dropped $3.2 million (lower than the original $35 million the pirates asked for) via parachute onto the ship and the last pirate left on Thursday, February 5. The ship is now safely in the hands of the U.S. Navy.
Although Somali pirates have hijacked more than 100 ships in the past year, the hijacking of the Faina received particular attention because its cargo included tanks, grenade launchers, antiaircraft guns, and ammunition. American officials worried that the Islamist insurgents of Somalia might get possession of these dangerous goods. The original destination of the weapons is unclear: the Kenyan government claims to own them, while the pirates and Western officials claim that they were headed to former rebels in southern Sudan.
One of the pirates, Isse Mohammed, says that his gang would continue hunting ships. Meanwhile, the warships of thirteen countries, including the United States, have joined the antipiracy campaign.
For further information, please click here and here.
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November 20th, 2008 at 11:00pm
The INS Tabar, an Indian warship, encountered three pirate vessels approximately 320 miles south-west of the Omani coast in the Gulf of Aden late Tuesday. When the pirates fired upon the Tabar, it retaliated, sinking the “mother ship” and forcing the would-be hijackers to abandon one of their two speedboats. The second speedboat escaped and there is no casualty count at this time.
At least 92 ships have been attacked in and around the Gulf of Aden so far in 2008, more than triple the number in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau. At least 14 of those ships are still in the control of hijackers. This includes a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks, artillery and other weaponry and a Saudi supertanker with two million barrels of oil valued at approximately $100 million. The pirates responsible for these attacks are mostly based in Somalia and the UN estimates between $25 to $30 million has been paid in ransom to them this year.
International anti-piracy patrols have been deployed in the area since August and international shipping organizations hope the Indian Navy’s actions set an example for addressing the hijackers. Meanwhile, the cost of increased piracy is expected to spread to consumers as shipping companies face higher insurance bills.
For further information, please click here.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 01:03am
In late September, three speedboats, manned by Somali pirates hijacked a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with tanks, ammunition, and other military supplies off the coast of Somalia. More than a month later, negotiations for the hostages and ship have not reached a conclusion. Unfortunately, the capture of the Ukrainian ship is not an isolated event. Somali pirates operate along what is widely considered one of the most dangerous coastlines in the world, and they have hijacked more than 75 vessels in the past year. Somali officials estimate the pirates have earned approximately $50 million dollars per year from ransoms and stolen goods. UN officials believe the figure is in excess of $100 million.
While starvation and constant violence are realities for many Somalis, business is booming for Somali pirates. “All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you’re millionaires,” said former Somali naval captain, Abdullahi Omar Qawden. Pirates have taken control of towns along the Somali coast. They own the largest and newest homes, drive luxury automobiles, and even operate a number of businesses including hotels. This lifestyle, juxtaposed against the dire situation of most Somalis, has proved tempting for many Somalis, swelling the ranks of the pirates.
Somali officials at the national and local level claim that they are powerless to stop the pirates. Nevertheless, many government officials are suspected of working with the pirates or accepting bribes. “Believe me, a lot of our money has gone straight into the government’s pockets,” confirmed Ismail Eid, a Somali prisoner currently serving a 15 year sentence for piracy. Warships from Russia, the United States, NATO, the European Union, and India have been deployed in the past month in hopes of increasing efforts to protect commercial vessels and eliminate piracy.
For further information please click here.
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January 17th, 2008 at 11:38am
On January 16, Peru asked the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) to adjudicate its ongoing maritime dispute with Chile. Peru claims that the zones in dispute have never been delimited by a treaty or other type of agreement, and thus should be determined by the ICJ in accordance with customary international law.
Two principal areas are disputed. The first is the maritime boundary between the two countries in the Pacific Ocean. The second is a zone within 200 miles of the Peruvian coast, over which Peru claims sovereign rights but which Chile considers part of the high seas.
More on the story is available here.
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March 26th, 2007 at 06:44pm
In United States v. Bravo, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 6618, the First Circuit found that jurisdiction under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act does not include a nexus requirement. As such, a United States district court could properly hear a drug case involving an unmarked vessel in international waters, even though there had been no showing that the drugs being transported in the vessel would affect the United States. Moreover, the court found that the Coast Guard’s actions in boarding the vessel were in compliance with international law, given that Colombia had been unable to confirm the ship’s claim that it was a registered Colombian vessel. The court noted that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to actions by United States authorities against aliens in international waters.
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