Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have become increasingly involved in search and rescue in the Mediterranean Sea in order to fill a gap in humanitarian protection. This article examines the legal framework of their search and rescue activities. The international law of the sea sets out an obligation to render assistance to persons in distress at sea. …More

The quest for international legal instruments capable of regulating private maritime security companies (PMSCs) efficiently has been previously explored in-depth, but few scholars or practitioners have anticipated the rise of a new kind of regulation instrument coming from outside the traditional circles of regulators composed of states, international organizations and the maritime industry. Traditional international …More

In an era where hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation activities keep soaring, the law of maritime delimitation has a vital role to play. Even though the optimal result in a delimitation dispute would be the establishment of a definitive and permanent boundary, international law envisages rules for the regulation of offshore activities in undelimited/disputed maritime areas …More

Piracy for ransom remains a significant maritime security threat adversely affecting the interests of the shipping industry, maritime trade and the welfare of seafarers. The profits made by pirates through ransoms have led to several states, including the United Kingdom, to argue in favour of an absolute ban on ransom payments to pirates. These proposals …More

Many scholars argue that a major obstacle to eradicating the global problem of maritime piracy is the lack of a uniform definition of piracy. Their chief concern is that without a uniform definition, it is difficult to formulate responses on a systemic and global level. This article contends that having multiple definitions of piracy for …More

The Montreux Document on Private Military and Security Companies was drafted with a view to apply to land-based settings. However, one of the prime markets of the private security industry today is the protection of merchant ships from criminal threats like piracy and armed robbery at sea. This warrants a discussion on the pertinence and …More

EUNAVFOR Operation Sophia was launched in summer 2015 in order to combat the smuggling of migrants in the South Mediterranean Sea, as part of a more comprehensive response by the EU to the ongoing and increasing refugee crisis in Europe. Its mandate includes the interdiction of vessels suspected of engaging in the smuggling of migrants …More

A recent agreement (signed on 21 March 2015 but not yet entered into force) between Italy and France on the delimitation of their maritime spaces provides a unique opportunity to discuss the solutions adopted in light of the ‘single maritime boundary’ practice. The new Agreement, on the basis of the customary rules of international law …More

The Arbitral Tribunal rendered its Award in the maritime delimitation dispute between Bangladesh and India in the Bay of Bengal on 7 July 2014. It delimited the parties’ territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, including the area beyond 200 nautical miles. Overall, the Arbitral Tribunal’s approach in delimiting the exclusive economic zone …More

The present article analyses the Arctic Sunrise arbitration, which concerns the lawfulness of the boarding and seizure of the Dutch-flagged vessel, Arctic Sunrise, during a protest against the oil rig Prirazlomnaya in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation. Even though the Arctic Sunrise vessel was three nautical miles from the rig, the Greenpeace …More