4. Международное морское право. Правовой режим прибрежных зон. Проблема морского пиратства

Coastal state enjoys complete and exclusive sovereignty over its internal waters and ports. Coastal state exercises complete sovereignty over its territorial waters. This sovereignty extends to the airspace as well as to sea bed and subsoil. Vessels of all countries use the right of innocent passage through territorial waters. The passage is innocent if it is not prejudicial to security of the coastal state. Contiguous zone cannot expand beyond 24 nautical miles from the baseline from which breadth is measured.

According to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea high seas are open to all states whether coastal or land-locked. Freedom of high seas comprises inter alia freedom of navigation, over flight, fishing and laying of submarine cables and pipe lines. The right of hot pursuit ceases as the pursuit vessel enters territorial waters of its own state or a third state.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place from 1973 through 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. 158 countries and the European Community have joined in the Convention.

The convention set the limit of various areas, measured from a carefully defined baseline.

Internal waters

Covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline. The coastal state is free to set laws and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters.

Territorial waters

Out to 12 nautical miles from the baseline, the coastal state is free to set laws use any resource. Vessels were given the right of innocent passage through any territorial waters. "Innocent passage" - not “prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security” of the coastal state. Fishing, polluting, weapons practice, and spying are not “innocent".

Contiguous zone

Beyond the 12 nautical mile limit there was a further 12 nautical miles or 24 nautical miles from the territorial sea baselines limit, the contiguous zone, in which a state could continue to enforce laws in four specific areas: pollution, taxation, customs, and immigration.

Exclusive economic zones (EEZs)

Extends from the edge of the territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from the baseline. The coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. In casual use, the term may include the territorial sea and even the continental shelf. Foreign nations have the freedom of navigation and overflight, subject to the regulation of the coastal states. Foreign states may also lay submarine pipes and cables.

Continental shelf

The natural prolongation of the land territory to the continental margin’s outer edge, or 200 nautical miles from the coastal state’s baseline. State’s continental shelf may exceed 200 nautical miles until the natural prolongation ends, it may never exceed 350 nautical miles from the baseline; or it may never exceed 100 nautical miles beyond the 2,500 meter isobath (the line connecting the depth of 2,500 meters). Coastal states have the right to harvest mineral and non-living material in the subsoil of its continental shelf, to the exclusion of others. Coastal states also have exclusive control over living resources "attached" to the continental shelf, but not to creatures living in the water column beyond the exclusive economic zone.

The convention establishes general obligations for safeguarding the marine environment and protecting freedom of scientific research on the high seas.

World Piracy.

• Piracy off the coast of Somalia has more than doubled in 2008; so far over 60 ships have been attacked. Pirates are regularly demanding and receiving million-dollar ransom payments and are becoming more aggressive and assertive.

• The high level of piracy is making aid deliveries to drought-stricken Somalia ever more difficult and costly. The World Food Programme has already been forced to temporarily suspend food deliveries. Canada is now escorting WFP deliveries but there are no plans in place to replace their escort when it finishes later this year.

• The danger and cost of piracy (insurance premiums for the Gulf of Aden have increased tenfold) mean that shipping could be forced to avoid the Gulf of Aden/Suez Canal and divert around the Cape of Good Hope. This would add considerably to the costs of manufactured goods and oil from Asia and the Middle East. At a time of high inflationary pressures, this should be of grave concern.

• Piracy could cause a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Aden if a tanker is sunk or run aground or set on fire. The use of ever more powerful weaponry makes this increasingly likely.

• There are a number of options for the international community but ignoring the problem is not one of them. It must ensure that WFP deliveries are protected and that gaps in supply do not occur.

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Somaliland in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, which is about 20 miles wide.The waterway is part of the important Suez canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean with 21,000 ships crossing the gulf annually. The gulf is known by the nickname "Pirate Alley" due to the large amount of pirate activity in the area.

Eyl is an ancient town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. As of 2008, Eyl has become a pirate haven, with more than a dozen ships being held captive by pirate crews. The Puntland government has acknowledged that they are relatively powerless to stop pirate activities, but it also has been suggested that members of the Puntland administration may have links to the pirates.

Hobyo is an ancient harbor city in the Mudug region of Somalia. Hobyo is also involved in piracy, serving as a location for pirates to anchor hijacked ships, such as the MV Faina, while demanding ransoms.