Riding Shotgun: Some Legal Issues Related to the Use of VPDS Aboard Merchant Vessels Against Pirates
Bleda KURTDARCAN
Somali açıkları ve Batı Hint Okyanusu’nda deniz haydutluğu tehdidine karşı alınan önlemlerden biri bu bölgede seyreden ticari gemilere askeri gemi koruma timleri bindirmek olmaktadır. Ancak devletin askeri birliklerinin bir koruma görevi için ticari gemilere bindirilmesinin uluslararası hukuka uygunluğu konusunda ilk bakışta bir sorun göz çarpmasa bile, daha yakından incelendiğinde bu uygulamanın uluslararası deniz hukukunun birçok kuralı ile kolay uyum sağlamadığı görülmektedir. Bu uyumsuzluklara istinaden gemi koruma timlerinin kullanılmasının yaratabileceği uluslararası hukuk sorunlarının önüne geçilebilmesi amacıyla böyle bir hizmeti sağlayacak devlet kuvvetlerinin, askeri timin üstlendiği koruma görevinin doğasını (kamusal ya da ticari), tim ve üzerine konuşlanan sivil gemi kaptanının ilişkilerini, deniz haydutlarının saldırılarına karşı kullanılacak kuvvet gibi konulara yaklaşımı açıkça ortaya koyan kapsamlı bir doktrin geliştirmesi gerekmektedir.
Gemi Koruma Timleri (VPD), Deniz Haydutluğu, Birleşmiş Milletler Deniz Hukuku Sözleşmesi, Zararsız Geçiş Hakkı, Kuvvet Kullanımı.
One of the measures taken against the threat of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and in the western Indian Ocean is to deploy military vessel protection detachments on merchant vessels travelling in these areas. Although prima facie it may seem that deploying a State’s military units for protection duty on merchant vessels shoud not present any particular problem with regard to international law, on closer examination the compatibility of such a practice with certain aspects of the law of the sea becomes dubious. Taking this fact into account, in order to prevent any international law issues that actual use of vessel protection detachments (VPDs) might give rise to, State’s armed forces or law enforcement units which are expected to undertake vessel protection missions have to develop a comprehensive doctrine, which deals inter alia with the nature (public or commercial) of the close protection service assured by VPDs, the relationship between VPD members and the master of the merchant vessel, and use of force in case of a pirate attack.
Vessel Protection Detachments (VPD), Piracy, UNCLOS, Right of Innocent Passage, Use of Force.
To “ride shotgun” means to guard a person or a thing while in transit.1 The expression seems to have originated from the 19th century American practice of using shotgun-armed guards to protect stagecoaches travelling in the Wild West.2 Nowadays this expression is also used in the maritime context to designate increasing use of armed security personnel aboard merchant vessels in the forms of VPDs and PCASPs (Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel) against piratical attacks.3
Due to its adaptability to a variety of changing tasks and its efficiency in defending ships against individual piracy attacks, which in turn lower insurance risk premiums, close armed protection has been gaining currency among shipping companies, commentators, and commanders of national naval forces.4 In the past few years, resorting to the protection services provided by armed personnel on board merchant ships also has been recognized in international forums, inter alia, as a key factor for deterring and fending off piracy attacks. In its tenth plenary session in 2011, Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), an international forum established pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851 (2008) and bringing together more than 60 states and international organizations, “emphasized the importance of military vessel protection detachments (VPDs) and the use of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) in deterring piracy attacks.”5 Again in its twelfth plenary session in 2012, the Contact Group reiterated its position underlining that the recent drop in the success rate of pirate attacks was a positive development, owing to a combination of factors, including the application of best management practices (BMPs) by the shipping industry, military and the more legally challenging issue of privately contracted armed security personnel.6 In fact an oft-cited anecdote suggests that no ship carrying armed guards has been successfully pirated.7
No matter how much praise it may have received, the use of armed guards on board merchant vessels is fraught with important legal questions. As one commentator aptly puts it, “placing in peacetime people armed with warlike weapons on board a private vessel with the specific purpose of repelling attacks waged by foreign citizens in a portion of sea (i.e. the high seas) which does not belong to any State, may cause a huge number of potential legal issues.”8
