INTERATIONAL PUNISHMENT OF PRESENT DAY AERIAL PIRACY (FROM AERIAL PIRACY AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, P 97-115, 1971, BY EDWARD MCWHINNEY - SEE NCJ-67719)

• NCJ Number: 67725
• Author(s): H VALLADAO
• Date Published: 1971
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: French
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

THE URGENT NEED FOR A STRICT NEW INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION WITH CLEAR GUIDELINES FOR PROSECUTION, PUNISHMENT, AND EXTRADITION OF AIR PIRATES IS DISCUSSED.

Abstract

TRADITIONALLY, STATES HAVE THE RIGHT (BUT NOT THE OBLIGATION) TO BOARD PIRATE SHIPS AND TO PROSECUTE SUSPECTED PIRATES ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF THE INTERVENING SHIP. THIS RULE HAS BEEN APPLIED TO AIRPLANES AS WELL, BUT ONLY WHEN THE PIRACY INVOLVES ACTS OF ONE PLANE AGAINST ANOTHER. THE LAWS OF SEPARATE STATES DEFINE PIRACY MORE BROADLY THAN INTERNATIONAL LAW, WHICH EXCLUDES SUCH ACTS AS MUTINY. 'HIJACKING' IS THE TERM WHICH HAS BEEN ADOPTED IN INTERNATIONAL LAW FOR VIOLENT CAPTURE AND DIVERSION OF SHIPS OR AIRPLANES, BUT THIS TERM FAILS TO EXPRESS THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE CRIME OR THE EXTREME DANGER TO INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED. 'AIR PIRACY' MAKES CLEAR THAT THE ACT IS MORE THAN SIMPLE THEFT. BECAUSE OF THE RAPID PROLIFERATION OF SUCH DANGEROUS ACTS, AIR PIRACY SHOULD BE DECLARED AN INTERNATIONAL OFFENSE PUNISHABLE ON THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL BY MEANS OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION COMPARABLE TO THOSE FOR DRUGS AND GENOCIDE. TO THIS END, AIR PIRACY MUST BE UNIVERSALLY DENOUNCED AS A CRIME, STATES MUST BE OBLIGED TO IMPOSE SEVERE PENALTIES FOR THE CRIME, AND ALL COUNTRIES MUST BE REQUIRED TO EXTRADITE OFFENDERS. WHILE MANY RECIPROCAL AGREEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA SATISFY THESE REQUIREMENTS, MULTILATERAL CONVENTIONS OFTEN CONDEMN PIRACY BUT MAKE EXTRADITION A MATTER OF PREFERENCE. THE GENEVA CONVENTION ONLY DEFINES AS PIRACY ACTS OF SHIPS OR AIRPLANES AGAINST OTHER SHIPS OR AIRPLANES. A NEW, TECHNICALLY PRECISE INTERNATIONAL TREATY MUST THEREFORE REQUIRE TRIAL AND SEVERE PUNISHMENT BY EVERY STATE WHEN SUCH PIRACY OCCURS IN ITS JURISDICTION. 'PIRACY' MUST EXTEND TO ILLICIT CAPTURE OF A VESSEL WITH THREAT OF VIOLENCE, ILLEGAL PRACTICES OF AN AIR OR SEA VESSEL AGAINST ANOTHER WITH ACTS OF VIOLENCE, AND ASSISTING SUCH ACTS, REGARDLESS OF WHERE THE AIR OR SEA VESSEL IS AND WHETHER NOT IT IS MOVING. THE TREATY MUST DEMAND EXTRADITION OF OFFENDERS TO THE STATE WHERE THE CRIME WAS COMMITTED OR WHERE THE PIRATED PLANE OR AIRCRAFT IS REGISTERED, WITH EXCEPTIONS ONLY WHEN EXTRADITION WOULD RESULT IN THE DEATH PENALTY--IN FRENCH.