A Century of Piracy Treaties: An Overview
for the Future
Samuel Pyeatt Menefee
Abstract This review of treaties and agreements dealing with piracy over the last
century (1918–2018) will emphasize major advances, showing how approaches to
the problem have been modified and what different initiatives may mean for the
future. Discussion of draft piracy codes will be followed by a review of the Treaty
Relating to the Use of Submarines (1922), the Convention on Duties and Rights of
States in the Event of Civil Strife (1928) and the Nyon Agreement (1937). Relevant
provisions in the International Law Commission Draft (1956) and the Geneva
Convention on the High Seas (1958) will be considered, as will piracy provisions
of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (1988) and its
Protocol. A showcasing of Asian agreements (early cooperative frameworks and the
1985 Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery
Against Ships in Asia) will be followed by sections dealing with African agreements
(the 2009 Djibouti Code of Conduct, the Jeddah Amendment of 2017, and the 2013
Code of Conduct).
1 Introduction: A Century of Piracy Treaties
Piracy remains a problem in today’s world. The treaty background for this survey
will be considered before reviewing several agreements and major international
treaties dealing with piracy over the last century, starting with the end of World
War I on November 11, 1918 and ending one hundred years later. Many of these
documents have been discussed at greater depth in prior works, but the emphasis
here will be on highlighting major changes and accomplishments in a way to
showcase the changes in the treatment of piracy during this period. An attempt
will be made to show how various approaches were modified or lead to others and
what all these developments may mean for anti-piracy approaches in the future.
S. P. Menefee (*)
Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. K. Mukherjee et al. (eds.), Maritime Law in Motion, WMU Studies in Maritime
Affairs 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31749-2_25
547
for the Future
Samuel Pyeatt Menefee
Abstract This review of treaties and agreements dealing with piracy over the last
century (1918–2018) will emphasize major advances, showing how approaches to
the problem have been modified and what different initiatives may mean for the
future. Discussion of draft piracy codes will be followed by a review of the Treaty
Relating to the Use of Submarines (1922), the Convention on Duties and Rights of
States in the Event of Civil Strife (1928) and the Nyon Agreement (1937). Relevant
provisions in the International Law Commission Draft (1956) and the Geneva
Convention on the High Seas (1958) will be considered, as will piracy provisions
of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (1988) and its
Protocol. A showcasing of Asian agreements (early cooperative frameworks and the
1985 Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery
Against Ships in Asia) will be followed by sections dealing with African agreements
(the 2009 Djibouti Code of Conduct, the Jeddah Amendment of 2017, and the 2013
Code of Conduct).
1 Introduction: A Century of Piracy Treaties
Piracy remains a problem in today’s world. The treaty background for this survey
will be considered before reviewing several agreements and major international
treaties dealing with piracy over the last century, starting with the end of World
War I on November 11, 1918 and ending one hundred years later. Many of these
documents have been discussed at greater depth in prior works, but the emphasis
here will be on highlighting major changes and accomplishments in a way to
showcase the changes in the treatment of piracy during this period. An attempt
will be made to show how various approaches were modified or lead to others and
what all these developments may mean for anti-piracy approaches in the future.
S. P. Menefee (*)
Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. K. Mukherjee et al. (eds.), Maritime Law in Motion, WMU Studies in Maritime
Affairs 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31749-2_25
547