The Nairobi Convention

The origins of the Nairobi Convention date back to the 1970s. Indeed, the initial trigger seems to have been the Torrey Canyon incident in 1967. ¹ As stated above, this incident led to the creation of the IMO Legal Committee and the adoption of the 1969 CLC and Fund Convention. ² Nevertheless, considering that the wreck of the Torrey Canyon lay outside the limits of the UK territorial sea, and measures were required to prevent damage to the coast by oil which continued to leak from the wreck, it became clear that an international convention was required to grant coastal States powers to take such measures on the high seas. This led to the adoption of the Intervention Convention. ³