Convention on the High Seas

 

Article 12

1. Every State shall require the master of a ship sailing under its flag,
in so far as he can do so without serious danger to the ship, the crew or
the passengers,

(a) To render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being
lost;
(b) To proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in
distress if informed of their need of assistance, in so far as such
action may reasonably be expected of him;
(c) After a collision, to render assistance to the other ship, her crew
and her passengers and, where possible, to inform the other ship of
the name of his own ship, her port of registry and the nearest port
at which she will call.

2. Every coastal State shall promote the establishment and maintenance of
an adequate and effective search and rescue service regarding safety on and
over the sea and–where circumstances so require–by way of mutual regional
arrangements co-operate with neighbouring States for this purpose.

Article 13

Every State shall adopt effective measures to prevent and punish the
transport of slaves in ships authorized to fly its flag, and to prevent the
unlawful use of its flag for that purpose. Any slave taking refuge on board
any ship, whatever its flag, shall ipso facto be free.

Article 14

All States shall co-operate to the fullest possible extent in the
repression of Piracy on the High Seas or in any other place outside the
jurisdiction of any State.

Article 15

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(1) Any illegal acts of violence, detention or any act of depredation,
committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship
or a private aircraft, and directed:

(a) On the High Seas , against another ship or aircraft, or against
persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(b) Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the
jurisdiction of any State;

(2) Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an
aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(3) Any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described
in sub-paragraph 1 or sub-paragraph 2 of this article.

Article 16

The acts of piracy, as defined in article 15, committed by a warship,
government ship or government aircraft whose crew has mutinied and taken
control of the ship or aircraft are assimilated to acts committed by a
private ship.

Article 17

A ship or aircraft is considered a pirate ship or aircraft if it is
intended by the persons in dominant control to be used for the purpose of
committing one of the acts referred to in article 15. The same applies if
the ship or aircraft has been used to commit any such act, so long as it
remains under the control of the persons guilty of that act.

Article 18

A ship or aircraft may retain its nationality although it has become a
pirate ship or aircraft. The retention or loss of nationality is determined
by the law of the State from which such nationality was derived.

Article 19

On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any
State, every State may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship taken by
piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize
the property on board. The courts of the State which carried out the
seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine
the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property,
subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.

Article 20

Where the seizure of a ship or aircraft on suspicion of piracy has been
effected without adequate grounds, the State making the seizure shall be
liable to the State the nationality of which is possessed by the ship or
aircraft, for any loss or damage caused by the seizure.

Article 21

A seizure on account of piracy may only be carried out by warships or
military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft on government service
authorized to that effect.

Article 22

1. Except where acts of interference derive from powers conferred by
treaty, a warship which encounters a foreign merchant ship on the high seas
is not justified in boarding her unless there is reasonable ground for
suspecting:

(a) That the ship is engaged in piracy; or
(b) That the ship is engaged in the slave trade; or
(c) That though flying a foreign flag or refusing to show its flag, the
ship is, in reality, of the same nationality as the warship.

2. In the cases provided for in sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) above, the
warship may proceed to verify the ship’s right to fly its flag. To this
end, it may send a boat under the command of an officer to the suspected
ship. If suspicion remains after the documents have been checked, it may
proceed to a further examination on board the ship, which must be carried
out with all possible consideration.

3. If the suspicions prove to be unfounded, and provided that the ship
boarded has not committed any act justifying them, it shall be compensated
for any loss or damage that may have been sustained.

Article 23

1. The hot pursuit of a foreign ship may be undertaken when the competent
authorities of the coastal State have good reason to believe that the ship
has violated the laws and regulations of that State. Such pursuit must be
commenced when the foreign ship or one of its boats is within the internal
waters or the territorial sea or the contiguous zone of the pursuing State,
and may only be continued outside the territorial sea or the contiguous
zone if the pursuit has not been interrupted. It is not necessary that, at
the time when the foreign ship within the territorial sea or the contiguous
zone receives the order to stop, the ship giving the order should likewise
be within the territorial sea or the contiguous zone. If the foreign ship
is within a contiguous zone, as defined in article 24 of the Convention on
the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, the pursuit may only be
undertaken if there has been a violation of the rights for the protection
of which the zone was established.

2. The right of hot pursuit ceases as soon as the ship pursued enters the
territorial sea of its own country or of a third State.

3. Hot pursuit is not deemed to have begun unless the pursuing ship has
satisfied itself by such practicable means as may be available that the
ship pursued or one of its boats or other craft working as a team and using
the ship pursued as a mother ship are within the limits of the territorial
sea, or as the case may be within the contiguous zone. The pursuit may only
be commenced a*er a visual or auditory signal to stop has been given at a
distance which enables it to be seen or heard by the foreign ship.

4. The right of hot pursuit may be exercised only by warships or military
aircraft, or other ships or aircraft on government service specially
authorized to that effect.

5. Where hot pursuit is effected by an aircraft:

(a) The provisions of paragraph 1 to 3 of this article shall apply
mutatis mutandis;
(b) The aircraft giving the order to stop must itself actively pursue the
ship until a ship or aircraft of the coastal State, summoned by the
aircraft, arrives to take over the pursuit, unless the aircraft is
itself able to arrest the ship. It does not suffice to justify an
arrest on the high seas that the ship was merely sighted by the
aircraft as an offender or suspected offender, if it was not both
ordered to stop and pursued by the aircraft itself or other aircraft
or ships which continue the pursuit without interruption.

6. The release of a ship arrested within the jurisdiction of a State and
escorted to a port of that State for the purposes of an enquiry before the
competent authorities may not be claimed solely on the ground that the
ship, in the course of its voyage, was escorted across a portion of the
high seas, if the circumstances rendered this necessary.

7. Where a ship has been stopped or arrested on the high seas in
circumstances which do not justify the exercise of the right of hot
pursuit, it shall be compensated for any loss or damage that may have been
thereby sustained.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention on the High Seas, High Seas, Piracy, country.