Aerial hijacking incidents have attracted the world’s attention far more frequently and sensationally than have incidents of terrorist violence at sea, as distinct from acts of traditional piracy, which have been well documented and are covered, so far as they occur on the high seas, by international law. The latter incidents are not covered by this work, though there is an appendix detailing them, based on the three International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reports on Incidence of Piracy and Armed Robbery from Merchant Ships. As is well known, the seizing of a single ship by terrorists for political purposes is not well or clearly covered by existing international law. This book addresses from all angles the problems involved in filling this gap in the law. Such forms of violence at sea have so far been mercifully rare, which accounts for the lack of effort so far devoted to dealing with the problem, but the seizing of the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise liner ship, by Palestinian terrorists in 1985, and the killing by them of an elderly American passenger, has at last served to focus attention on what needs to be done to counteract such attacks in the future. The papers given at the San José workshop, on which this book is based, tell us both what is now being done and what more can be done to reduce the risk of such incidents. It also provides a wealth of useful factual information about actual incidents of violence at sea.

Aircraft cannot stay in the air long; their hijacking therefore ends mostly in public view at airports, where numerous practical and legal techniques for dealing with this problem have now been developed and superficially would appear to provide a model for maritime viol