More news on this fast-moving issue - the Dutch government (the Arctic Sunrise is registered in the Netherlands) has just announced that it will initiate proceedings against Russia under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea to secure the release of the Arctic 30, currently being detained in Russia on piracy charges.
General Counsel Jasper Teulings said: "[...] Russian officials will now be called to explain their actions before an international court of law, where it will be unable to justify these absurd piracy allegations. We hope the court will agree with President Putin himself, who has said that the Greenpeace campaigners are certainly not pirates. International legal experts have uniformly described the piracy charges against the Greenpeace International activists and the freelance photographer and videographer as baseless. [...]">
For those interested in the legal background to this move:
1. Article 287 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) provides States Parties with a ‘menu’ of different options to settle disputes, including the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice, an arbitral tribunal or a so-called ‘special arbitral tribunal’.
2. The Russian Federation ratified the Convention on 12 March 1997 and issued a Declaration opting for settlement of disputes through special arbitration. It also made use of the possibility to exclude certain disputes from compulsory settlement. Article 297, paragraphs 2 and 3 allow a reservation with respect to disputes on law enforcement activities regarding fisheries and marine scientific research only.
3. A five-member arbitral tribunal will now be constituted in accordance with Annex VIII, Article 3 to LOSC. The Netherlands may ask for a Provisional Measure in accordance with Article 290, which could include the immediate release of the vessel and crew.
4. The decision on this request will be taken as soon as possible either by the arbitral tribunal, if agreement on its composition can be reached within two weeks, or by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Article 290(5) LOSC). Typically this process would take less than two months.
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