Mrs. Olsen referred to Article 105 which contains the provisions on seizure of a private ship and the jurisdiction on the high seas. Article 107 contains provisions on the seizure of pirate ships by warships on the high seas and the safeguards governing the right to intervene by warships. Article 110 establishes a right for war ships to board a foreign ship on the high seas, where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the ship is involved in piracy or the ship has been taken over by pirates.
Mrs. Olsen introduced the different types of agreements directed towards the inspection of ships, the investigation of cases or law enforcement which could be formed or agreed upon by flag States expanding the jurisdiction of the coastal State or coastal States sharing the same problems. She presented the legal status of the territorial sea and the legal framework within which the coastal State's jurisdiction applies (articles 3, 19, 21 and 27 of UNCLOS). She also referred to the right of innocent passage (article 17 of UNCLOS) which should only apply to innocent ships and to the right of "hot pursuit".
Presentation No.5
IMO guidance to shipowners and ship operators, shipmasters and crews on preventing and suppressing piracy and armed robbery against ships
27 Mr. Ove Tvedt (BIMCO) comparing modern piracy and armed robbery against ships and piracy in the last century, observed that while in the past, pirates operated mainly on the high seas, modern pirates are more likely to be encountered in ports, port approaches and off coastal waters. They also typically attack at night. He described the situation in different parts of the world and the actions that have been taken by the national Governments, IMO and BIMCO to deal with the problem.
He spoke of the setting up in 1993 by IMO of a Working Group composed of experts from a number of IMO Member Governments to visit the three countries bordering the Malacca Strait, as a result of which guidance material for Governments, shipowners and seafarers on the prevention and suppression of piracy and armed robbery against ships was prepared by the MSC. He continued with the counter-measures taken by the three littoral states of the Malacca Strait (Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore), which resulted in a marked decline in the number of attacks reported in the area.
He produced statistics compiled from reports by BIMCO member organizations on attacks in the South China Sea, South America, East and West Africa and spoke of the discussions carried out between BIMCO and the Governments concerned which led the Governments taking a number of measures to reduce the incidents of piracy and armed robbery in their waters. He described the beneficial impact of BIMCO's representations to port operators, business groups and shipowners' association in Brazil, Thailand and India to improved port security.
He concluded by reiterating the importance of reporting all piracy attacks to the appropriate authorities, and suggested that one way of encouraging this, is for the port authorities to ensure that ships are not delayed or made to incur additional expenses as a result of investigations into any reports they have made.
Presentation No.6
Investigation of piracy
28 Mr. J. Rees and Ms. S. Williams (United Kingdom) pointed out that success or otherwise of the efforts of law enforcement agencies against any crime tend to be measures in two main ways, i.e. the trends in numbers of offences and the numbers of arrests leading to prosecutions and convictions. On either of these two criteria the efforts in recent years to combat piracy have not been particularly successful. They believed that land-based law enforcement agencies have a vital part to play.
