Eduard Somers

Towards New Rules on Disembarkation of Persons Rescued at Sea

It is an international legal obligation for States to render assistance to persons in distress at sea. However, a comparable legally binding duty to disembark these rescued persons does not exist in the law of the sea. As a result, these persons—often migrants—can spend weeks on a ship at sea before a State allows them to go ashore. This article analyses the existing legal framework concerning disembarkation and evaluates the recent initiatives taken within the International Maritime Organization. Suggestions for future improvements are made.

The arrest of ships in maritime zones beyond internal waters in Belgian maritime law

Opportunities may arise to arrest a ship in maritime zones beyond internal waters, e.g. in the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This paper examines the possibilities for arrest in those areas on the basis of jurisdiction ratione loci and ratione materiae. Under Belgian law the territorial sea is not part of the States territory; accordingly, the Belgian Judicial Code does not provide for an attachment judge nor a bailiff to have jurisdiction in this area and a fortiori in the EEZ. The law of April 22, 1999 solved the problem of territorial jurisdiction in this respect. As far as a ships arrest in the EEZ is concerned, it is not clear whether the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (articles 73 and 220) combined with the requirement of a maritime claim, allows for an arrest at all.