Незаконні акти на морі, спрямовані проти безпеки морського судноплавства

Abstract

Maritime safety covers various aspects of legal protection of human and civil rights and freedoms, property, public order and public safety, environmental safety, peace and security of mankind, which are recognized by the state and protected from socially dangerous acts at sea, including those that constitute criminal offenses. Accordingly, criminal offenses in the field of shipping safety include, in particular, failure to provide assistance to a ship and people in distress at sea, piracy, armed robbery against ships. Without excluding the regulation of protection against criminal offenses in the field of maritime safety by each state's own system of national legislation, the regulation of certain international obligations, the failure to fulfill which may constitute a criminal offense at sea, is covered by international law. Article 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine states that the laws of Ukraine on criminal liability must comply with the provisions contained in the international treaties in force, which have been ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has given its consent to be bound by the following international treaties: The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; the 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea; the 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue; the 1989 Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. At present, the rules on criminalization in the field of safety of navigation remain imperfect. The author conducts a comparative analysis of the provisions of international law and national legislation of Ukraine on criminal offenses of failure to provide assistance at sea, piracy, armed robbery against ships, identifies their differences and inconsistencies, and analyzes a specific case of an attack on Ukrainian sailors. The article outlines the peculiarities of international obligations, non-compliance with which entails criminal liability under national law, and analyzes the compliance of dispositions and sanctions of the articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine with the level of public danger of international crimes at sea and the state of compliance with international norms, existing legislative gaps and ways to overcome them