Resolution 2146(2014) authorizes inspection of suspect ships on high seas
The Security Council banned illicit crude oil exports from Libya on March 19th 2014, authorizing States to inspect vessels on the high seas, using all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances.
Unanimously adopting Resolution2146(2014) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the 15-member body condemned attempts to illicitly export crude oil from Libya and called on that country’s Government, on the basis of any information regarding such exports or attempted exports, expeditiously to contact the concerned vessel’s flag State, in the first instance, to resolve the issue. It requested that Member States first seek the consent of the vessel’s flag State before undertaking inspection measures.
| Further by the text, the Council decided that the flag State of a vessel designated by its Libya Sanctions Committee should take the necessary measures to direct such a vessel not to load, transport or discharge crude oil from Libya aboard the vessel, absent direction from the Government, also requesting all Member States to take the necessary measures to prohibit such vessels from entering their ports, unless such entry was for the purpose of inspection, in the case of emergency or in the case of return to Libya. |
Following the adoption, Argentina’s representative said she had voted in favour of the text given the request by the Libyan Government and the need to safeguard that country’s natural resources. However, she stressed that vessels subject to inspections were limited to those identified as such, and that the authorizations and measures imposed must be limited to one year.
The Russian Federation’s representative said he found it possible to support the resolution prepared by the United States, but such a situation did not arise today. When crude oil had been taken from Libya aboard a United States vessel in April2011, the latter country’s Government had supported that unlawful action, he recalled. Why had it not submitted a draft resolution three years ago? This resolution would not touch on the general principles of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, especially in respect of a flag State’s jurisdiction over its vessels on the high seas, he said.
China’s delegate, while saying he had also voted in favour of the text, emphasized that Libya’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity must be respected, and the resolution should not be considered as establishing customary international law.
Libya’s representative said that this action sent a strong signal to the Libyan people that the Security Council would come to their aid when needed and they would not be left alone during their country’s critical transitional period. It also sent a clear message to criminals embezzling Libya’s natural resources that the international community was keeping an eye on their actions.
You may read the full text of Resolution 2146(2014) by clicking at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2014/sc11325.doc.htm
