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UN Security Council adopts new resolution on piracy (1846), decryption

(B2) The first effect of the news 1846 resolution, voted by the United Nations Security Council on December 2, is to extend by 12 months the previous resolution (1816). The main purpose of which - let us remember - is to allow States which so wish - and have notified the Somali Transitional Government (TFG) and the UN Secretary General - to enter Somali territorial waters to "suppress acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea, in a manner consistent with action permitted on the high seas in cases of piracy under applicable international law". The Security Council is already considering - at the request of the TFG - the extension of this measure beyond 12 months. This would allow the EU to continue operation Atalanta, which starts on December 12 (8), beyond the first 1 months.

The means to be implemented

This resolution - like the previous ones - calls for and endorses the military action of the UN States in the area, and also asks them to lend technical assistance to civilian ships. Interesting point: it envisages the medium term with the assistance to the countries of the zone to fight against piracy. And a report is requested from the UN Secretary General on other means to be implemented.

military action

Another reminder (already welcomed in the 1838 resolution): the UN "welcome with a deep satisfaction the decision taken by the EU to carry out ... a naval operation aimed at protecting the maritime convoys of the WFP bringing humanitarian aid to Somalia and other vulnerable ships and suppressing acts of piracy and theft at gunpoint off the coast of Somalia".

More generally, she asks "States and regional organizations that have the means to participate actively in the fight against piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia, in particular, in accordance with this resolution and applicable international law, by deploying warships or military aircraft, and by seizing and destroying boats, ships, weapons and other related materiel which are used or which there are reasonable grounds to believe will be used in the commission of acts of piracy and robbery army off the coast of Somalia".

Assistance to merchant vessels

It also asks States to "to ensure that ships flying their flag are provided with appropriate information and direction regarding evasive, evasive and defensive techniques and action to be taken in the event of an attack or threat of attack off the coast Somali".

Strengthening the means of coastal States

The United Nations calls for "technical assistance aimed at strengthening the capacity of these States to ensure coastal and maritime security, including the fight against acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia and the coasts of the countries neighbors".

Un investigation report must be provided within three months, "on the means of guaranteeing the sustainable safety of international navigation off the coast of Somalia, including the safety of the maritime convoys of the WFP carrying out deliveries in Somalia". The coordination and leadership role of the UN or other regional organizations should also be clarified.

Three legal details to remember

We know how delicate the question of intervention at sea - essentially in territorial waters - against pirates is, as are those of the arrest, detention and judgment of bandits at sea (2). Three points deserve to be read with attention.

Somali waters only

The UN issues a important reserve the power given to States to intervene (in Somali territorial waters in particular): "the authorizations given in this resolution apply only to the situation in Somalia and do not affect the rights, obligations or responsibilities of Member States deriving from international law, in particular the rights or obligations resulting from the Convention, with regard to is of any other situation, and emphasizes in particular that this resolution cannot be regarded as establishing customary international law.. This means in particular that the territorial waters of the other coastal States (Djbouti, Seychelles, Egypt, Oman...) must be preserved and that the usual rules of the law of the sea apply (no pursuit) or that the States engage their liability in the event of a prosecution or unproven visit.

Legal cooperation

The resolution asks the States (flag, port, coastal, nationality of victims or perpetrators of acts of piracy or armed robbery, etc.) "to cooperate with a view to determining who will have jurisdiction and to take the necessary measures to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of acts of piracy and armed robbery committed off the coast of Somalia, in accordance with international law applicable, including international human rights law, and to support these efforts, including by providing assistance with logistics and the exercise of legal remedies vis-à-vis persons under their jurisdiction and their control, such as victims, witnesses and persons detained in connection with operations carried out pursuant to this resolution."

Criminalization of acts of piracy in international law

“States parties are required to criminalize the act of seizing or exercising control of a vessel by violence or the threat of violence or any other form of intimidation, to establish their jurisdiction for the purposes of know of these offences, and to accept the surrender of persons responsible or suspected of such acts". The resolution "urges (thus) the States parties to the said Convention to fully discharge the obligations which it imposes on them and to cooperate with the Secretary-General and the IMO with a view to putting in place the judicial means of prosecuting persons suspected of 'acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia'.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

(1) Device of Operation Atalanta

(2) Applicable law for piracy (Montego bay and penal code)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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