Disarmament Documentation

Protocols to Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, October 10-14, 2005

Revised treaties to address unlawful acts at sea adopted at international conference, International Maritime Organisation, Briefing 42, 2005.

The new Protocols provide the first international treaty framework for combating and prosecuting anyone who uses a ship as a weapon or as a means to carry out a terrorist attack, or who transports terrorists or cargo destined to support weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs by ship.

Amendments to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988 and its related Protocol, which provide the legal basis for action to be taken against persons committing unlawful acts against the safety of navigation (and against fixed platforms located on the continental shelf), have been adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on the Revision of the SUA Treaties.

The Conference, which met from 10 to 14 October 2005 at the London Headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations specialized agency responsible for safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships, adopted the amendments in the form of Protocols to the SUA treaties (the 2005 Protocols).

2005 Protocol to the SUA Convention

The 2005 Protocol to the SUA Convention adds a new Article 3bis which states that a person commits an offence within the meaning of the Convention if that person unlawfully and intentionally:

when the purpose of the act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from any act:
- uses against or on a ship or discharging from a ship any explosive, radioactive material or BCN (biological, chemical, nuclear) weapon in a manner that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage;
- discharges, from a ship, oil, liquefied natural gas, or other hazardous or noxious substance, in such quantity or concentration that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage;
- uses a ship in a manner that causes death or serious injury or damage;
transports on board a ship any explosive or radioactive material, knowing that it is intended to be used to cause, or in a threat to cause, death or serious injury or damage for the purpose of intimidating a population, or compelling a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act;
transports on board a ship any BCN weapon, knowing it to be a BCN weapon;
any source material, special fissionable material, or equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material, knowing that it is intended to be used in a nuclear explosive activity or in any other nuclear activity not under safeguards pursuant to an IAEA comprehensive safeguards agreement; and
transports on board a ship any equipment, materials or software or related technology that significantly contributes to the design, manufacture or delivery of a BCN weapon, with the intention that it will be used for such purpose.

The transportation of nuclear material is not considered an offence if such item or material is transported to or from the territory of, or is otherwise transported under the control of, a State Party to the Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Subject to conditions)...

Boarding provisions

A new Article 8bis in the 2005 Protocol covers co-operation and procedures to be followed if a State Party desires to board a ship flying the flag of a State Party when the requesting Party has reasonable grounds to suspect that the ship or a person on board the ship is, has been, or is about to be involved in, the commission of an offence under the Convention...

2005 Protocol to the 1988 SUA Protocol

...New article 2bis broadens the range of offences included in the Protocol. A person commits an offence if that person unlawfully and intentionally, when the purpose of the act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act, uses against or on a fixed platform or discharges from a fixed platform any explosive, radioactive material or BCN weapon in a manner that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage; or discharges from a fixed platform, oil, liquefied natural gas, or other hazardous or noxious substance, in such quantity or concentration, that it causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage; or threatens, with or without a condition, as is provided for under national law, to commit an offence...

Source: International Maritime Organisation, http://www.imo.org/home.asp.

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