Law enforcement at sea has become an increasingly important tool for combating transnational crime. Such law enforcement operations are commonly directed by multinational missions composed of military rather than police forces, and are often carried out in maritime areas not subject to national jurisdiction. Because of these characteristics, maritime law enforcement operations touch upon many unresolved human rights issues. In the present study, counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean serve as the quintessential example of how law enforcement measures taken at sea may fall short of international human rights standards. An unprecedented number of national and multinational missions have been deployed to counter the phenomenon of piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the region. Their mandate includes the arrest, detention and transfer for prosecution of piracy suspects. The book at hand examines the procedures pertinent to the decision whether to release piracy suspects, prosecute them in the seizing State or transfer them to a third State, and the detention regime pending such decisions. The study provides a critical analysis of the compatibility of these procedures with international law, first and foremost human rights law. Using piracy as an example, it demonstrates that the characteristics of national and multinational law enforcement at sea may lead to a deviation from certain human rights standards – standards that the States in question readily accept and apply in their land-based, territorial law enforcement operations. At the centre of the analysis are two unique case studies, which provide insight into the arrest, detention and transfer procedures in both a multinational context and a purely interstate setting. This work is a valuable contribution to legal scholarship dealing with the human rights dimension of maritime law enforcement operations. It is a useful, timely and innovative resource for both academics and legal practitioners alike, or any person interested in the applicability and scope of human rights norms in the maritime context.

This book examines the continued viability of international human rights law in the context of extraterritorialisation, outsourcing, and privatisation of law enforcement tasks. New forms of state cooperation raise difficult questions about divided, shared and joint responsibility under international human rights law. This book brings together some of the most authoritative legal voices to provide an introduction to core issues such as state responsibility, attribution and extraterritorial jurisdiction, as well as up-to-date case studies of different transnational law enforcement issues. It will interest students, scholars and practitioners of IR, human rights and public international law.

Media interest in the fates of people at sea has heightened across the last decade. The attacks and the hostage taking of victims by Somali pirates, and the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in the Mediterranean, ask pressing questions, as does the sinking of the Costa Concordia off the Italian island of Giglio which, one hundred years after the Titanic capsized, reminded the world that, despite modern navigation systems and technology, shipping is still fallible. Do pirates have human rights? Can migrants at sea be turned back to the State from which they have sailed? How can the crews of vessels be protected against inhuman and degrading working and living conditions? And are States liable under international human rights treaties for arresting drug traffickers on the high seas? The first text to comprehensively compare the legal rights of different people at sea, Irini Papanicolopulu's timely text argues that there is an overarching duty of the state to protect people at sea and adopt all necessary acts with a view towards ensuring enjoyment of their rights. Rather than being in doubt, she reveals that the emerging law in this area is watertight.

This handbook offers a critical and substantial analysis of maritime security and documents the most pressing strategic, economic, socio-cultural and legal questions surrounding it. Written by leading international experts, this comprehensive volume presents a wide variety of theoretical positions on maritime security, detailing its achievements and outlining outstanding issues faced by those in the field. The book includes studies which cover the entire spectrum of activity along which maritime security is developing, including, piracy, cyber security, energy security, terrorism, narco-subs and illegal fishing. Demonstrating the transformative character and potential of the topic, the book is divided into two parts. The first part exhibits a range of perspectives and new approaches to maritime security, and the second explores emerging developments in the practice of security at sea, as well as regional studies written by local maritime security experts. Taken together, these contributions provide a compelling account of the evolving maritime security environment, casting fresh light on theoretical and empirical aspects. The book will be of much interest to practitioners and students of maritime security, naval studies, security studies, maritime history, and International Relations in general. Chapter 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial] (CC-BY-NC)] 4.0 license.

Drawing on papers presented at Trinity College, Dublin, in 2010, Selected Contemporary Issues in the Law of the Sea provides a cohesive discussion on various challenges involved with the law of the sea. International experts cover topics such as straight baselines, high seas/EEZ jurisdiction, the definition of, and jurisdiction over, piracy and submissions to the CLCS relating to outer continental shelf claims in disputed areas. In addition, Selected Contemporary Issues in the Law of the Sea delves into topics seemingly neglected in contemporary literature. The permissible use of artificial constructions as basepoints is discussed, for example, as are human rights issues involved in boarding non-flag ships; and in the context of piracy, issues such as the Japanese and NGO (Greenpeace) attitudes to current interventions (so-called ‘eco-piracy’) by NGO ships to prevent Japanese whaling activities in Antarctic waters.

​Over more than three decades starting in the 1990s, thousands of robberies, acts of piracy, and other violent attacks against merchant vessels have been reported in many of the world’s waters. The grave danger of piracy poses a direct threat not only to the security and efficiency of marine transportation, but more seriously, to the lives of the men and woman carrying out this important function. This book collates ideas brought up by seafarers, shipowners, industry practitioners, government officials, academics, and researchers exchanged views and insights on the complex web of underlying factors behind the phenomenon of piracy. Piracy at Sea brings together a wide spectrum of maritime stakeholders, who present different aspects of the problem in an open manner and share their thoughts on how to deal with a truly complex situation. It encapsulates this collective wisdom in a publication that can serve as an easy reference for practitioners as well as researchers, and hopefully contribute to more concrete action.​

Since 2008 increasing pirate activities in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean have once again drawn the international community's attention to piracy and armed robbery at sea. States are resolved to repress these impediments to the free flow of trade and navigation. To this end a number of multinational counter-piracy missions have been deployed to the region. This book describes the enforcement powers that States may rely upon in their quest to repress piracy in the larger Gulf of Aden region. The piracy rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the legal safeguards applicable to maritime interception operations are scrutinized before the analysis turns to the criminal prosecution of pirates and armed robbers at sea. The discussion includes so-called shiprider agreements, the transfers of alleged offenders to regional states, the jurisdictional bases for prosecuting pirates, and the feasibility of an international(ized) venue for their trial. In addressing a range of relevant issues, this book presents a detailed and comprehensive up-to-date analysis of the legal issues pertaining to the repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea and assesses whether the currently existing legal regime is still adequate to effectively counter piracy in the 21st century.

The Law of Armed Conflict traditionally regulates the actions of States and armed groups, as well as individuals who participate in hostilities. It is increasingly evident that there are significant legal issues regarding the application of this law to the activities of International Military Missions, especially with regard to United Nations forces and other international organisations because it is unclear how their activities are regulated by traditional sources of International Law. The book explores the legal developments in addressing this challenge, including pertinent issues of human rights and international criminal law, elucidating the rights and obligations of all the actors, including States, international organisations and individuals, involved in International Military Missions.

This book aims to address ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. The different chapters consider the multiple facets of the phenomenon and the complex challenges they pose, bringing together knowledge from several disciplines and regions of the world within a single collection. Together, they provide an integrated picture of transnational movements of people by sea with a view to making a decisive contribution to our understanding of current trends and future perspectives and their treatment from legal-doctrinal, legal-theoretical, and non-legal angles. The final goal is to unpack the tension that exists between security concerns and individual rights in this context and identify tools and strategies to adequately manage its various components, garnering an inter-regional / multi-disciplinary dialogue, including input from international law, law of the sea, maritime security, migration and refugee studies, and human rights, to address the position of ‘migrants at sea’ thoroughly.

This study examines the shipmaster’s duty to render assistance at sea under international law. This duty is assessed in the light of contemporary challenges posed by the phenomenon of irregular migration by sea, a problem which has intensified in recent years. The approach undertaken gives special emphasis to the shipmaster’s responsibilities in rescue operations, and his role in the fulfilment of States’ international obligations in the rendering of assistance.