Captain Phillips in the Gulf of Aden: Reflections on the Observance of Human Rights at Sea and on Countering Piracy Cover Image

Kapitan Phillips w Zatoce Adeńskiej: refleksje na temat przestrzegania praw człowieka na morzu i zwalczania piractwa
Captain Phillips in the Gulf of Aden: Reflections on the Observance of Human Rights at Sea and on Countering Piracy

Author(s): Barbara STĘPIEŃ, Piotr Łubiński
Subject(s): International Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Studies in violence and power, Maritime Law
Published by: Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego
Keywords: piracy; armed robbery against vessels; Gulf of Aden; human rights at sea; extraterritorial application of the European Convention on Human Rights; law of the sea; international maritime law;

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to offer an insight into the problem of observance of human rights at sea in situations of fighting piracy and armed robbery against vessels. The analysis has been conducted using the example of the situation in the Gulf of Aden and piracy off the coast of Somalia. The authors have analysed international legal regulations in the field of the law of the sea and human rights, with a particular consideration of the observance and protection of human rights depending on the maritime zone (territorial sea, contiguous zone, and high sea) where these rights are violated. The subject matter of the observance of human rights in the context of maritime areas has not been so far a matter addressed in Polish-language scientific publications. Yet, given its special social and legal significance (e.g. in the light of the migration crisis in the Mediterranean Sea basin), it seems necessary to bring it to attention. In the conclusions, the authors argue that the adopted regulations affecting piracy and acts of armed robbery against vessels provide only a framework and that it is crucial to establish specific procedures to deal with pirates at an international level (considering the international standards of protection of human rights).

  • Issue Year: 13/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 236-250
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish