Maritime law experts to discuss piracy
Posted: Saturday, February 18, 2006
Essam Al Tamimi
Dubai
Renowned experts in maritime law will recommend stricter legal measures to thwart maritime infringements including piracy and money laundering, at an international conference in Dubai.
The two-day conference, scheduled for March 6 and 7, 2006, will be held at the Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Hotel. The call for stringent legal measures comes at a time of political turmoil in Somalia and Iraq, two essential geographies in controlling important shipping trade channels in the Middle East.
In the first nine months of 2005, there were over 205 cases of reported pirate attacks worldwide, and the numbers have increased since. The waters of Somalia have raised the most concerns with pirates having attacked a range of vessels gas tankers, bulk carriers, cruise ships, fishing vessels and even general vessels.
More alarming is the fact that the perpetrators of such attacks have been identified as warlords using the income from piracy to fund drug and weapons smuggling activities as well as terrorist attacks.
"There is no single enforceable measure that could quell the increasing problem of maritime crime. From less dangerous smuggling and money laundering activities - executed through ever more creative criminals utilising shipping companies and the hazy laws surrounding them - to the more lethal pirate attacks that place human life under direct threat, it is clear that a combination of legal measures and international cooperation is required to ease the problem," said Essam Al Tamimi, managing partner of Al Tamimi and Company.
"Externalities such as higher insurance costs, for example, have a direct impact on prices and on economic activity, especially in an area that exports energy and is a net importer of essential economic good and services."
The UAE is a country that has taken some strong legal counter measures by amending some articles of the federal penal code which broadened the jurisdiction and imposed more punitive measures on persons involved or being complicit in crimes that involve damaging international communications systems, trafficking of drugs, women, children or slaves, crimes on piracy, international terrorism pr crimes regarding money laundering.
Punishments defined by the law against these crimes ranges from blood money, fines, flogging, detention, life imprisonment and death sentences. Some vessels have gone as far as installing Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) that emit sounds up to an ear splitting 150 decibels to deter attackers!
The two-day conference on international maritime law will also cover topics including: enforcement of marine claims, developments in charter parties and the apportionment of charterparty obligations between an owner and a charterer and recent developments in Bill of Lading case law.
The conference is presented by the Maritime and Transport Law Committee and Maritime and Aviation Law section of the International Bar Association in cooperation with Al Tamimi and Company and Clyde and Company, and aims to enlighten the participants on the enforcement of marine claims and allow them the opportunity to discuss and analyze regimes in different countries. -TradeArabia News Service
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