Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea The Legal Framework for Counter-Piracy Operations in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden

• The first monograph to specifically and comprehesively deal with the legal regime pertaining to piracy underway in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden
• Provides a sophisticated legal analysis of the complexities surrounding the counter-piracy operations in the region
• Details the evolution of the international law relating to piracy and armed robbery at sea, placing the current operations in context

Since 2008 increasing pirate activities in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean have once again drawn the international community's attention to piracy and armed robbery at sea. States are resolved to repress these impediments to the free flow of trade and navigation. To this end a number of multinational counter-piracy missions have been deployed to the region.

This book describes the enforcement powers that States may rely upon in their quest to repress piracy in the larger Gulf of Aden region. The piracy rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the legal safeguards applicable to maritime interception operations are scrutinized before the analysis turns to the criminal prosecution of pirates and armed robbers at sea. The discussion includes so-called shiprider agreements, the transfers of alleged offenders to regional states, the jurisdictional bases for prosecuting pirates, and the feasibility of an international(ized) venue for their trial. In addressing a range of relevant issues, this book presents a detailed and comprehensive up-to-date analysis of the legal issues pertaining to the repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea and assesses whether the currently existing legal regime is still adequate to effectively counter piracy in the 21st century.

Readership: Scholars of the law of the seas, international criminal and humanitarian law, the use of force, and International Relations. Post-graduate students, practitioners and policymakers, government legal advisors, military legal advisors, and NGOs; International Human Rights lawyers.