Recent events in the Baltic Sea and other places have highlighted the importance of undersea cables and pipelines for the global economy, and indeed our daily life. Fibre optic cables are the arteries of the modern world, transmitting over 99% of intercontinental data. While electricity and gas pipelines have less global significance, they remain crucial to regional and local economies. This blog argues that attacks on subsea cables and pipelines could qualify as acts of piracy, allowing all states to board, search, and seize vessels engaged in or suspected of such attacks, as well as apprehend and prosecute those responsible.
Piracy
Page 1 of 4
Iran’s Seizure of the Two Greek-flagged Vessels: An International Law Perspective
The Facts On 27 May 2022 the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the seizure of two Greek-flagged oil tankers, which sailed in international waters, 22 nautical miles from the Iranian coast (see here the statement quoted by the Iranian State news agency IRNA). The IRGC helicopters landed onboard the Greek vessels “Delta…
Refusing to Negotiate Can Have Tragic Consequences
Jon Bellish is the Project Development Manager at the One Earth Future foundation and a fellow at the Ved Nanda Center for International & Comparative Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. On August 19, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a video showing the beheading…
Greenpeace ‘Pirates’ and the MV Arctic Sunrise
As is now well-known, on 18 September several Greenpeace activists attempted to board Gazprom’s oil platform, the Prirazlomnaya, in the Russian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) bearing ropes and posters. They did do in inflatable craft launched from the Greenpeace vessel the MV Arctic Sunrise. They were soon arrested by the Russian Coast Guard. On 19 September…
The Possible Unintended Consequences of United States v. Ali
As Professor Guilfoyle notes in his latest post, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of United States v. Ali, reached the same conclusion that he did on the question of whether territorial facilitation of piracy is subject to universal jurisdiction. I have a post over a Communis Hostis…
- Page 1 of 4
- Last