Maritime Security

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was faced with the issue of maritime security against terrorist incidents. Accordingly, it adopted the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) in December 2002 as part of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 1974- as amended) in order to increase maritime security through fulfilling its regulations by Contracting Governments. This Code, entered into force on 1 July 2004, provides a set of regulations for ship and port facility security. The first part of this paper focuses on the introduction and analysis of the key regulations of the ISPS Code. The second part of this paper focuses on the successful practices of two Contracting Governments, namely Malaysia and South Korea. Accordingly, this paper evaluates the enforcement of the regulations of the ISPS Code by concentrating on these two countries in East Asia in order to measure the effectiveness of the Code in enhancing maritime security of these two countries. This paper concludes that to achieve the objectives of the ISPS Code, all Contracting Countries should fully implement its regulations and for achieving a higher standards in maintaining maritime security they are advised to take advantage of the experiences and practices of such successful countries as Malaysia and South Korea in fulfilling the regulations of the ISPS Code. The research method applied in this paper is based on the descriptive - analytical method.

Maritime terrorism is as old as its history. From ancient times to the first decade of the 21st century, perpetrators of all kinds of violence, including kidnapping, sabotage and direct attacks on targets, have inhabited the high seas as well as the wider marine environment. Terrorism at sea becomes important when a significant part of the world's trade is carried out by sea. One of the challenges of dealing with terrorism at sea and the inefficiency of the means to deal with it is found in the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Therefore, security in the seas is also considered a part of this convention; But in it, the issue of maritime terrorism is not addressed separately. Therefore, terrorist crimes in the seas and the fight against them are among the issues raised in international law, especially the international law of the seas, so that the first measures in this direction also go back to the era of the League of Nations. However, this article tries to use the descriptive and analytical research method while measuring the mechanisms of dealing with crimes in the sea territory, and examines the way of dealing with and suppressing terrorist crimes. Of course, according to the concern of coastal communities and international organizations caused by maritime terrorism, a suitable solution can be proposed, which is the participation of private companies to help fight terrorism in the sea, despite the disagreement about this approach and legal basis. It acted in international law.