CHALLENGES OF PIRACY IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY AND TREATY PROVISIONS RELATING THERETO UNDER THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON LAW OF THE SEA 1982

Abstract

This paper attempts to critique the prevailing concept of piracy as contained in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982 in order to see whether the provisions contained therein are sufficient to meet the present challenges of piracy especially the glaring problems of sanctity of the sovereignty of coastal States over their territorial seas and a seeming lack of political will to prosecute pirates. In doing this, the paper looks at the concept of piracy as it was understood from old times, through the period of privateering to the modern era of international treaties culminating in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982. It specifically x-rays the modern day treaty provisions of what amounts to piracy, highlighting its elements as contained in the law and juxtaposing same with the reality of the modus operandi of modern day deprecators by sea. In particular, the study comments on the geographical requirement of the offence and the academic fireworks generated by phrase ‘for private ends’, with this writer showing a bias for the argument that the phrase means actions without State sanction and nothing more. Finally, the study examines the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (hereinafter, SUA Convention) and its test case applicability in United States v Shi1 .