EUNavfor Atalanta: a European versus international arrest warrant
(B2) The Ministers of the European Union will approve, on November 10, the Joint Action which provides a political and legal framework for the military operation "Eunavfor", officially called "Atalanta", which will be carried out by the European Union from December off Somalia against maritime piracy.
The point that required the most work was the arrest and transfer of the pirates from one ship to another. That is, from one state to another. In a way, it is the extension of the European arrest warrant at the international level which is thus defined, with an additional concept, authorized by the law of the sea, the arrest by a European force of "offenders" of the international law. For several weeks, the groups of "External Relations" advisers have had the "Somalia" item on their agenda, and in particular this damned article 13. Now - in the final text which will be adopted on Monday - article 12 (in effect the 26 renounced appointing the Force Commander, who was later appointed by the Political and Security Committee, so an article was deleted).
Device. Persons who have committed or are suspected of having committed acts of piracy or armed robbery apprehended and held for prosecution in the territorial waters of Somalia or on the high seas, as well as property used to perform these acts, are transferred:
“– to the competent authorities of the Member State or of the third State participating in the operation whose flag the vessel which carried out the capture is flying, or
“- if that State cannot or does not wish to exercise its jurisdiction, to a Member State or to any third State which wishes to exercise it over the persons or property mentioned above. »
Remark. This fairly flexible formula makes it possible to preserve the effectiveness of the operation by transferring the prisoners to a State which has the legal capacity to judge this person. Only three or four states have such a provision in their domestic law (the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and France). Others are studying the conditions for dealing with pirates, such as the United Kingdom, where draft legislation is under consideration. (*)
The legal basis is "Somalia's acceptance of the exercise of their jurisdiction by Member States or third States, on the one hand, and Article 105 of the united nations convention on the law of the sea, on the other hand". The EU also sent a letter on 30 October 2008 to the Somali transitional government, "making an offer of cooperation consistent with resolution 1816 (2008), which contains proposals for the exercise of jurisdiction over persons apprehended in the territorial waters of Somalia».
A condition remainder: " none of the persons may be transferred to a third State, if the conditions of this transfer have not been agreed with this third State in a manner consistent with applicable international law, in particular international human rights law, for guarantee in particular that no one is subjected to the death penalty, torture or any other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment ».
Terms of the operation
Zones. The forces deployed for this purpose operate up to 500 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia and neighboring countries (nearly 1000 kms).
Duration. The operation will last a year (from the declaration of initial operational capability of the operation).
Commandment. As advertised, the center of operation is “fixed in Northwood (UK)”. This will be the first time that this center will be activated at European level. And it is “Vice-Admiral Phillip Jones” (British) who will command the operation.
(NGV)
(*) See also the blog of Thomas Wiegold journalist at theGerman weekly Focus
