Page 137 - MDSL Final

LEGAL CONTEXT
• States are bound to promote the development and transfer
of marine technology on ‘fair and reasonable terms and
conditions’ with proper regard for all legitimate interests.
• States parties are obliged to settle their disputes by peaceful
means concerning the interpretation or application of the
Convention.
• Disputes can be submitted to the International Tribunal for
the Law of the Sea established under the Convention, to the
International Court of Justice, or to arbitration. Conciliation is
also available and, in certain circumstances, submission to it
would be compulsory. The Tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction
over deep seabed mining disputes.

Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of
Maritime Navigation – 1988 (SUA Convention)

Terrorism is a premeditated, politically motivated violence
perpetrated against non- combatant targets by sub-national
group or clandestine state agents, usually intended to
influence an audience.

US Department of Defence

The terrorist activities aggravated by greater sophistication of destructive
technology available to them, making shipping on high seas an attracted
target. Moreover, the likelihood for worldwide media coverage of an
incident apparently makes maritime terrorism an even more attracting
prospect.

The SUA Convention in 1988 has addressed the maritime terrorist
activities along with an additional protocol to the same convention
to deal with the security issues faced by the fixed platforms in the
Continental Shelf (CS) as the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the
Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the CS. Due to the inadequacy of
the provisions within the LOSC, the international community through
and proposed the UN and the IMO to formulate the SUA Convention
to prosecute maritime crimes which are not covered in the LOSC

To Nurture a Stable Environment at Sea 119