ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the prospects for the various international agreements to enable states to prevent terrorists from utilising vessels in an offensive manner. This could involve the perpetration of dangerous acts through using vessels as weapons-launching platforms or as kinetic ramming weapons; or as floating bombs against various targets. It could also encompass disruptive acts – such as disabling a vessel near critical navigational choke-points, causing deliberate pollution, facilitating the laying of sea mines, interfering with submarine cables and/or launching attacks against offshore installations. The chapter considers how the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code and other vessel identification and tracking measures under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea Convention could prevent the occurrence of such offensive acts. It also discusses the extent to which the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation could enable states to interdict vessels suspected of being about to perpetrate such offensive acts. After reviewing the key principles from international legal cases on the use of force in the maritime law enforcement context, the chapter concludes by highlighting several jurisdictional uncertainties relating to the prevention of terrorist acts at sea.
