The Rome convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of maritime navigation : an analysis

Abstract

Quintessentially, this thesis is an analysis of a Convention done by the International Maritime Organisation (I.M.O.) in 1988 on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and its Protocol on the Suppression of Unlawful acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms. Analysing the 1988 IMO Convention without probing the international law offence of piracy iure gentium would have been akin to going to Paris without visiting the Eiffel Tower. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of the whole history of the offence of piracy and its constituent elements is made in the first chapter, after highlighting the importance of the sea in the history of mankind and the abuses made thereof. The main thrust for the drawing up of this multilateral treaty, was the 1985 "hijacking" of the Italian cruise liner, the Achille Lauro, in which an American Jew, bound to a wheelchair, was brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists. This incident, as well as the 1961 "hijacking" of the Portuguese cruise liner "Santa Maria", could not fall under the traditional definition of piracy under international law, since only one ship--the hijacked ship---was involved, whereas traditional piracy implied the attack of one ship against another ship for private ends. This argument is amplified in the second chapter. The "private ends" limitation, codified in the 1958 definitions of piracy in the Geneva Convention on the High Seas and in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, surely did not apply to these 1961 and 1985 attacks against cruise liners, since they were purportedly carried out for a public/political purpose. On the other hand, "private ends" usually meant an animo jurandi. Thus, the 1988 IMO Convention attempted to plug this loophole in international law by providing for an ad hoe international instrument regulating attacks against maritime navigation, something which the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had done in the three Conventions on air terrorism in 1963, 1970 and 1971. In fact, this thesis, especially in Chapter 3, whilst analysing the offences mentioned in the 1988 ™O Convention, constantly refers to the corresponding provisions in the ICAO Conventions. In conclusion, this thesis enlists the deficiencies of the 1988 ™O Convention and the faux pas committed by the Maltese Parliament in enacting the Civil Aviation (Security) Act,1991.