Toward a Global Regime of Vessel Anti-Fouling

Vessel anti-fouling is key to the efficient operation of ships, and essential for effective control of invasive species introduced through international shipping. Anti-Fouling Systems, however, pose their own threats to marine environments. The Anti-Fouling Convention of 2001 banned the use of organotin compounds such as Tributyltin, and created a system for adoption of alternative anti-fouling biocides. In 2011, the Marine Environmental Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released guidelines on bio-fouling management record keeping, installation, inspection, cleaning, maintenance, design and construction. Though these Guidelines provide a template for more effective and environmentally sound anti-fouling control and implementation, they are not mandatory. This article proposes that the member states of the IMO adopt the 2011 Guidelines as a mandatory instrument

Can Turkey Legally Close Its Straits to Russian Warships? It’s Complicated

This article originally appeared in Foreign Policy, March 1, 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/ 01/turkey-black-sea-straits-russia-ships-ukraine-war/

Neutral State Access to Ukraine’s Food Exports

This article originally appeared in Articles of War, the online publication of the Lieber Institute at the U.S. Military Academy, May 18, 2022, https://lieber.westpoint.edu/neutral-state-access-ukraines-food-exports/

The Attack on the Vasily Bekh and Targeting Logistics Ships

This article originally appeared in Articles of War, the online publication of the Lieber Institute at the U.S. Military Academy, July 11, 2022, https://lieber.westpoint.edu/attack-vasily-bekh-targeting-logistics-ships/

International Security and International Law in the Northwest Passage

Concern over the loss of sea ice has renewed discussions over the legal status of the Arctic and subarctic transcontinental maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, referred to as the Northwest Passage. Over the past thirty years, Canada has maintained that the waters of the Passage are some combination of internal waters or territorial seas. Applying the rules of international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, suggests that the Passage is a strait used for international navigation. Expressing concerns over maritime safety and security, recognition of northern sovereignty, and protection of the fragile Arctic environment, Ottawa has sought to exercise greater authority over the Passage. This Article suggests that Canada can best achieve widespread global support for managing its maritime Arctic by acknowledging that the Passage constitutes an international strait and working through the International Maritime Organization to develop a comprehensive package of internationally accepted regulations

Command Accountability for AI Weapon Systems in the Law of Armed Conflict

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in weapon systems enhances the ability of operational forces to fuse multispectral sensors to understand the warfighting environment, positively identify, track, and select targets, and engage them with the most appropriate effects. The potential for AI to help close the “kill chain” has raised concern that this creates a gap in accountability between the decisions of humans and the acts of machines, with humans no longer accountable for decisions made during armed conflict. This study suggests that there is no gap because the military commander is always directly and individually accountable for the employment of all methods and means of warfare. The commander’s military accountability pervades the battlefield. This accountability inures to the force structure, weapon systems and tactics used in war, including the use of AI weapon systems. Military accountability is the foundation of military duty and includes the legal obligation to comply with the law of armed conflict or international humanitarian law. The commander is accountable to superior military and civilian leaders, and is subject to political, institutional, and legal sanctions enforced through military order and discipline, including the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The doctrine of the commander’s direct and individual accountability ensures that senior military leaders are answerable to and liable for breaches of law and leadership, including oversight, selection, and employment of autonomous weapon systems

War Sanctions Steadily Degrade the Russian Maritime Sector

This article originally appeared in Articles of War, the online publication of the Lieber Institute at the U.S. Military Academy, June 7, 2022, https://lieber.westpoint.edu/war-sanctions-steadily-degrade-russian-maritime-sector/

Effective Implementation of the 2005 Convention for the Suppressionof Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation

in 2005, the 167 member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the 2005 Protocol to the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA). The resulting 2005 SUA Convention is a comprehensive treaty on maritime security that streamlines and integrates efforts to prevent and disrupt maritime terrorism. In the decade since its adoption, however, many states have not acceded to the new treaty, and most of those that have done so have not taken the steps the treaty requires to imple- ment it effectively, even though the need to do so is perhaps even greater today. This article provides a road map for implementation of the 2005 SUA Convention to realize the vision for an effective global regime to combat maritime terrorism