Who is responsible to provide aid when tragedy happens in international sea water?

The United Nations Law of the Sea as well as custom and treaties between nations all provide for assistance to people or ships in distress at sea.

The United Nations Law reads in part, “Article 98 (1) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) requires masters of vessels sailing under the flag of signatory States to render assistance to those in distress at sea. It is primarily a State duty fulfilled by the master of the vessel. The master is freed from this requirement only in circumstances where the assisting vessel, the crew or the passengers on board would be seriously endangered as a result of rendering assistance to those in distress.” (1)

Custom and treaties between nations are usually similar.

(1) Blog: UNCLOS and the Duty to Render Assistance

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Would you call it historical revisionism to remove Confederate monuments 150 years after the Civil War?

In war, does life expectancy go up with battle experience?

Read This First