New Challenges to Maritime Security: Legality and Legitimacy of Responses

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About the Book The author has examined laws, conventions and practices in International Law in the context of threats to maritime security posed by non-state actors. He has analysed the clauses of UNCLOS-III, SUA Convention, various resolutions of the UN, laws passed by states and also international initiatives like PSI and MRSL. These steps can, over a period, lead to the emergence of a new customary international law that will help to legitimize state action against those non-state actors that threaten maritime peace and security.

About the Author Prof. K.R. Singh (b. 1932) retired in 1997 as Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He specializes in West Asia, Indian Ocean, Strategic Studies and Maritime Affairs. He has authored many books and articles on these subjects including Navies of South Asia, 2002 and Indian Ocean: Great Power Presence (forthcoming 2006). At present, he is Visiting Professor, Chair for Maritime Studies and Research, University of Calicut.

Foreword The monograph, New Challenges to Maritime Security: Legality and Legitimacy of Responses, has been prepared by Professor K.R. Singh, Visiting Professor, Chair for Maritime Studies and Research, University of Calicut.

In the monograph, Professor K.R. Singh, has sought to analyse the new threats to Maritime Security as posed by non state actors. These threats range from piracy and armed robbery on board ship, illegal traffic in men and material, including those related to weapons of mass destruction and their delivery system, as also the threat from maritime terrorism.

He has analysed legal provisions that can be invoked to meet those threats. Since many of these provisions are felt to be inadequate instruments to meet the new challenge, UN Security Council and General Assembly have passed resolutions so as to provide legitimacy to state action in meeting the new threat. Concerned states have also proposed their own Initiatives' like the Container Security Initiative, Proliferation Security Initiative, Maritime Regional Security Initiatives. He has also analysed, in brief, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Bill approved by the Indian Parliament in May 2005.

Since many of the important documents that are relevant for an in-depth study of the subject are generally not available in one place for those who wish to pursue this study further, he has added nine such documents as appendices.

Preface Though terrorism has a long history, acts of violence by non-state actors on the sea like maritime terrorism are a recent phenomenon. No doubt piracy had been a major source of threat in the past. But it had been effectively crushed by the middle of the eighteenth century. Since then, though there were minor incidents of that or even of armed robbery on board vessels anchored near the port, there was no attempt at deliberately targeting the ship per se or the crew and the passengers. There were stray incidents like the Santa Monica case when a liner was hijacked for political purposes. But they were rare.

Threat to freedom of navigation by non-state actors began to increase dramatically since the eighties. Not only instances of armed robbery or piracy became more common but militants also began to target ships, both civilian and military, as a part of their overall strategy. The LTTE of Sri Lanka was the first major militant group to resort to the use of force in this context. LTTE's navy and the Sea Tigers not only targeted foreign vessels in the waters around their zone of influence but also fought pitched battles with the ships of the Sri Lanka Navy. It was the LTTE that first resorted to attacks by ramming their boats filled with explosives against the targeted vessels. They also resorted to the mining of Sri Lanka's ships in their own harbours and naval bases.

**Contents and Sample Pages**