Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE INL4001

 
TITLE Global Maritime Security and International Law

 
UM LEVEL 04 - Years 4, 5 in Modular UG or PG Cert Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT International Law

 
DESCRIPTION Many of the threats to maritime security are newly-emerging or are appearing today under a new guise. Furthermore, many remain unregulated in the UN Law of the Sea Convention 1982. The study-unit will focus on these threats and attempt to determine a new direction being taken in International Law through the fight against these threats. Issues to be addressed will include the post-2001 security environment and the related review of IMO instruments together with the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and its Protocol. Another main topic for discussion and anlysis is the international regime relating to Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships, looking also at the enfolding situation off the coast of Somalia and examining from this the possible future direction of international law. Maritime drug trafficking and migrant smuggling are other threats to maritime security which will also be the subject of examination, particularly focussing on the relevant international instruments demonstrating international cooperation in the fight against such types of organised crime.

Study-unit Aims

To provide the student with an up-to-date picture of the current maritime security regime as relates to international law and to understand the importance of cooperation as pivotal to the regulatory process fighting threats thereto.

Learning Outcomes

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
1. Understand the nature of maritime security threats and the legal regimes surrounding them.
2. Appreciate the interplay between legal rules and underlying exigencies and State interests.
3. Become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the legal regime.
4. Understand the notion of cooperation and its role in contemporary international law.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
1. Be conversant in critical reasoning generally and within the context of maritime security issues in particular.
2. Apply learned knowledge to particular fact situations occurring via the maritime domain.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings

There is no one textbook which covers all the aspects to be considered in this study-unit. Students will be referred to areas in various texts such as the ones that follow:

*The more important entries for the purposes of this study-unit are followed by [MAIN TEXT].

• Bantekas Illias and Nash Susan, International Criminal Law (2nd edn, Cavendish Publishing, UK, 2003) [Available at IMLI Library]
• Churchill Robin R and Lowe Alan V, The Law of the Sea (3rd edn, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1999) Available at Law Faculty Library. [MAIN TEXT]
• Dupuy Rene-Jean and Vignes Daniel, A Handbook on the New Law of the Sea (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, 1991) vols 1 and 2 [Available at IMLI library]
• Freestone David, Barnes Richard and Ong David (eds), The Law of the Sea: Progress and Prospects (OUP, Oxford, 2006) [Available at IMLI library]
• ILO and IMO, Code of Practice: Security in Ports (Geneva, International Labour Organisation / London, International Maritime Organisation, 2004) [Available online]
• Mallia Patricia, Migrant Smuggling by Sea: Combating a Current Threat to Maritime Security through the Creation of a Cooperative Framework (Martinus Nijhoff/Brill,The Netherlands, 2010) [Martinus Nijhoff, The Netherlands, 2010] [MAIN TEXT]
• McClean David, Transnational Organized Crime: A Commentary on the UN Convention and its Protocols (OUP, Oxford, 2007)
• O’Connell Daniel Patrick (Shearer Ivan Anthony ed), The International Law of the Sea (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982) vol I [Available at IMLI library]
• O’Connell Daniel Patrick (Shearer Ivan Anthony ed), The International Law of the Sea (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984) vol II [Available at IMLI library]
• United Nations, Commentary on the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1998, E/CN.7/590 (United Nations, New York, 1998)
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Legislative Guide for the Implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the Protocols thereto (United Nations, New York, 2004) [Available online]
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Travaux Preparatoires of the negotiations for the elaboration of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the Protocols thereto (United Nations, New York, 2006) [Available online]
• UNHCR, ‘Selected Reference Materials: Rescue at Sea, Maritime Interception and Stowaways’ (UNHCR, Geneva, 2006) [Available online] [MAIN TEXT]

Main International Instruments: [MAIN TEXTS]

• International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (London, 1 November 1974, entered into force 1 May 1991) 1184 UNTS 3; 14 ILM 959 (SOLAS)
• International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (Hamburg, 27 April 1979, entered into force 22 June 1985) 1405 UNTS 97 (SAR Convention)
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994) 1833 UNTS 3; 21 ILM 1261 (LOSC)
• Convention on the High Seas (Geneva, 29 April 1958, entered into force 30 September 1962) 13 UST 2312; 450 UNTS 11 (HSC)
• Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone (Geneva, 29 April 1958, entered into force 10 September 1964) 15 UST 1606; 516 UNTS 205 (TSC)
• United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (Palermo, 15 November 2000, entered into force 29 September 2000) 40 ILM (2001) 335 (CATOC)
• Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (Palermo, 15 November 2000, entered into force 28 January 2004) 40 ILM 384 (Smuggling Protocol)
• Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (Vienna, 10 March 1988, entered into force 1 March 1992) 27 ILM 668; 1678 UNTS 201 (SUA Convention)
• Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (Rome, 10 March 1988, entered into force 1 March 1992) 27 ILM 685 (SUA Protocol)
• Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Vienna, 20 December 1988, entered into force 11 November 1990) UN Doc E/CONF.82/15; 28 ILM 493 (Vienna Drugs Convention)
Agreement concerning cooperation in Suppressing Illicit Maritime and Air Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in the Caribbean Area (San Jose, Costa Rica, 10 April 2003, not yet in force) (Aruba Agreement)
• Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Malta concerning cooperation to Suppress the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, their Delivery Systems, and Related Materials by Sea (Washington, 15 March 2007, entered into force 19 December 2007)
• Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas concerning cooperation in maritime law enforcement (Nassau, signed and entered into force on 29 July 2004)

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Students taking this study-unit need to have a background in law.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Felicity Attard
Patricia Vella de Fremeaux

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit