The Comparative Analysis of International Maritime Terrorism (IMT) and Other Crimes Committed at Sea

Abstract

The issue of combating (international) maritime terrorism is very topical in public international law. Given current dispute among international legal scholars about the concepts and their relationship, it is important to assess the possibility of extending the law of piracy to (international) maritime terrorism or even to an armed robbery at sea. It is of particular mention that there is no uniform practice and scholarly definitions vary in relation to the mentioned issue.

Accordingly, the article aims to propose definitions of (international) maritime terrorism, piracy and armed robbery at sea and to answer the question of how appropriate it is to extend piracy law to (international) maritime terrorism and armed robbery at sea. Houthi group attacks against the ships of different states in the Red Sea shows the need to consider potentially important criterion in terms of separating maritime terrorism and piracy which is related to the magnitude of the threat from the attacks.