Expert Meeting "Multinational Law Enforcement & Sea Piracy"

The Security Council has shown strong resolve to counter the pirate activities in the Gulf of Aden. Three Chapter VII-based Security Council Resolutions within the past 12 months alone, the authorization to use "all necessary means," and the proclaimed objective of a "full eradication of piracy" in the region send a clear message. Despite the Council's efforts to remedy some of the oft-lamented shortcomings of the UNCLOS enforcement regime, as far as enforcement jurisdiction is concerned, discerning precisely what States are currently allowed to do in their quest to repress piracy off Somalia's coast, as well as where and against whom, is far from easy. With regard to adjudicative jurisdiction, the picture is equally complex. UNCLOS arguably contains a jurisdictional basis in relation to adjudication, but the various Security Council Resolutions have also invoked a range of other relevant legal instruments such as the SUA and Hostage Conventions. In practice, States have been quite reluctant to initiate criminal proceedings against captured "pirates and armed robbers" and have occasionally released them on Somali shorelines. It is in this context that transfer agreements with regional States have been concluded and the Security Council has called for the use of so-called "shipriders," allowing States to bring "pirates and armed robbers at sea" directly into the criminal jurisdiction of a regional State willing to prosecute them.

It is against this background that the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law is hosting an Expert Meeting on Multinational Law Enforcement and Sea Piracy, which should allow for an in-depth discussion among academics and practitioners dealing with the current legal as well as operational challenges of sea piracy.