Convention (XIII) Concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War

Article 1. Belligerents are bound to respect the sovereign rights of
neutral Powers and to abstain, in neutral territory or neutral waters, from
any act which would, if knowingly permitted by any Power, constitute a
violation of neutrality.

Art. 2. Any act of hostility, including capture and the exercise of the
right of search, committed by belligerent war-ships in the territorial
waters of a neutral Power, constitutes a violation of neutrality and is
strictly forbidden.

Art. 3. When a ship has been captured in the territorial waters of a
neutral Power, this Power must employ, if the prize is still within its
jurisdiction, the means at its disposal to release the prize with its
officers and crew, and to intern the prize crew.

If the prize is not in the jurisdiction of the neutral Power, the captor
Government, on the demand of that Power, must liberate the prize with its
officers and crew.

Art. 4. A prize court cannot be set up by a belligerent on neutral
territory or on a vessel in neutral waters.

Art. 5. Belligerents are forbidden to use neutral ports and waters as a
base of naval operations against their adversaries, and in particular to
erect wireless telegraphy stations or any apparatus for the purpose of
communicating with the belligerent forces on land or sea.

Art. 6. The supply, in any manner, directly or indirectly, by a neutral
Power to a belligerent Power, of war-ships, ammunition, or war material of
any kind whatever, is forbidden.

Art. 7. A neutral Power is not bound to prevent the export or transit, for
the use of either belligerent, of arms, ammunition, or, in general, of
anything which could be of use to an army or fleet.

Art. 8. A neutral Government is bound to employ the means at its disposal
to prevent the fitting out or arming of any vessel within its jurisdiction
which it has reason to believe is intended to cruise, or engage in hostile
operations, against a Power with which that Government is at peace. It is
also bound to display the same vigilance to prevent the departure from its
jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise, or engage in hostile
operations, which had been adapted entirely or partly within the said
jurisdiction for use in war.

Art. 9. A neutral Power must apply impartially to the two belligerents the
conditions, restrictions, or prohibitions made by it in regard to the
admission into its ports, roadsteads, or territorial waters, of belligerent
war-ships or of their prizes.

Nevertheless, a neutral Power may forbid a belligerent vessel which has
failed to conform to the orders and regulations made by it, or which has
violated neutrality, to enter its ports or roadsteads.

Art. 10. The neutrality of a Power is not affected by the mere passage
through its territorial waters of war-ships or prizes belonging to
belligerents.

Art. 11. A neutral Power may allow belligerent war-ships to employ its
licensed pilots.

Art. 12. In the absence of special provisions to the contrary in the
legislation of a neutral Power, belligerent war-ships are not permitted to
remain in the ports, roadsteads, or territorial waters of the said Power
for more than twenty-four hours, except in the cases covered by the present
Convention.

Art. 13. If a Power which has been informed of the outbreak of hostilities
learns that a belligerent war-ship is in one of its ports or roadsteads, or
in its territorial waters, it must notify the said ship to depart within
twenty-four hours or within the time prescribed by local regulations.

Art. 14. A belligerent war-ship may not prolong its stay in a neutral port
beyond the permissible time except on account of damage or stress of
weather. It must depart as soon as the cause of the delay is at an end.

The regulations as to the question of the length of time which these
vessels may remain in neutral ports, roadsteads, or waters, do not apply to
war-ships devoted exclusively to religious, scientific, or philanthropic
purposes.

Art. 15. In the absence of special provisions to the contrary in the
legislation of a neutral Power, the maximum number of warships belonging to
a belligerent which may be in one of the ports or roadsteads of that Power
simultaneously shall be three.

Art. 16. When war-ships belonging to both belligerents are present
simultaneously in a neutral port or roadstead, a period of not less than
twenty-four hours must elapse between the departure of the ship belonging
to one belligerent and the departure of the ship belonging to the other.

The order of departure is determined by the order of arrival, unless the
ship which arrived first is so circumstanced that an extension of its stay
is permissible.

A belligerent war-ship may not leave a neutral port or roadstead until
twenty-four hours after the departure of a merchant ship flying the flag of
its adversary.

Art. 17. In neutral ports and roadsteads belligerent war-ships may only
carry out such repairs as are absolutely necessary to render them
seaworthy, and may not add in any manner whatsoever to their fighting
force. The local authorities of the neutral Power shall decide what repairs
are necessary, and these must be carried out with the least possible delay.

Art. 18. Belligerent war-ships may not make use of neutral ports,
roadsteads, or territorial waters for replenishing or increasing their
supplies of war material or their armament, or for completing their crews.

Art. 19. Belligerent war-ships may only revictual in neutral ports or
roadsteads to bring up their supplies to the peace standard.

Similarly these vessels may only ship sufficient fuel to enable them to
reach the nearest port in their own country . They may, on the other hand,
fill up their bunkers built to carry fuel, when in neutral countries which
have adopted this method of determining the amount of fuel to be supplied.

If, in accordance with the law of the neutral Power, the ships are not
supplied with coal within twenty-four hours of their arrival, the
permissible duration of their stay is extended by twenty-four hours.

Art. 20. Belligerent war-ships which have shipped fuel in a port belonging
to a neutral Power may not within the succeeding three months replenish
their supply in a port of the same Power.

Author: international