Legal Framework for Suppression of Maritime Piracy

摘要

Since 2008 the problem of piracy has been threatening international navigation in coastal waters of Somalia and wider Indian ocean region. Presently a number of naval vessels from numerous countries, as a joint marine force, are monitoring these regions. Under the auspices of International Maritime Organisation regional co-operation has been instituted and special information centres have been established in order to suppress piracy. In Kenya and the Seychelles pirates are being prosecuted pursuant to special memoranda. The legal framework for such action is based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1982, SUA Convention and relevant UN Security Council resolutions. The paper illustrates their main provisions with respect to piracy and measures of suppression. Due attention is given to the issue of embarkation of armed guards on merchant ships. Consequently, stipulations of the Proposal of the Act on Amendments on the Act on Safety Protection of Merchant Ships and Ports are analysed. The amendments on the Law stipulate the conditions and armed guards embarkation procedure on board Croatian ships. The author concludes that in spite of all the efforts piracy remains a serious issue in the maritime industry and international community as a whole.