Human Rights, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism

NSTRUCTIONS
1. Answer the problem question below, worth 50% of final assessment in this unit.
2. Write a maximum of 3,000 words.
3. No bibliography or formal footnoting is required. You may reference in short form in
the text of your answers (eg, Author 2010, p #).
4. This assignment tests your understanding of the law you studied in the readings and
lectures, but does not require original research (unless otherwise stated below).
5. Penalties for excess words and late submission will be applied (10%, or 10 marks, per
100 excess words, or per day, or part thereof).
6. You must not discuss or consult with any other person about this assignment.
7. Your answer is due via online submission (Canvas) by 4 pm, 1 November 2021.
In 2050, the Proliferator is a cargo ship owned by an authoritarian country, the Disunited
States of America (‘DSA’), that is registered (‘flagged’) in Panama, operated by a Liberian
company, and crewed by officers who are DSA nationals, and Tongan sailors. It regularly
carries a nuclear fuel, enriched uranium, to its ally, Australia, for use in Australia’s domestic
nuclear weapons manufacturing program. On one voyage, the Proliferator is loaded with
uranium in Boston and is destined for Sydney, Australia, stopping first to unload other cargo
in Florida.
While en route from Boston to Florida, about ten nautical miles off the DSA coast, the ship is
met by a flotilla of anti-nuclear protesters, who throw onto the deck of the Proliferator homemade ‘bombs’ which release smoke, paint and rancid butter. They also toss thick ropes into the
water in an attempt to foul the propeller, and fire water cannons through open hatches, hoping
to flood the engine room. These efforts fail.
One Australian protestor then announces by loudspeaker that there is a bomb hidden on board
the Proliferator, which will “sink the ship” unless the DSAU and its nuclear allies, including
the Disunited Kingdom (‘DK’) eliminate nuclear weapons. The protestor knows that the bomb
is not big enough to sink the ship, or even to cause damage, since it is located in a life-boat
distant from any essential on board systems. The captain urgently diverts officers from their
normal duties to search for the bomb. The ship is surrounded by the flotilla, with risks of
collision. The bomb was placed on board by Boston wharf worker, who was told it could sink
the ship. She was given it by a military intelligence officer from a liberal democratic state,
Russia.
2/3
The bomb is found and thrown overboard; unfortunately it floats and, on contact with a small
dinghy, explodes, sinking the dinghy and killings its two crew members. The DSAU coastguard
disperses the flotilla, but the individual protesters who attacked or threatened the Proliferator
escape in speedboats onto the high seas (beyond 12 nautical miles from the DSAU coast).
The Proliferator docks briefly in Florida, then departs for Sydney. While 10 nautical miles off
the coast of Haiti en route to the Panama Canal, a long running dispute over bullying and
working conditions erupts on the Proliferator. During an argument, a DSA officer pushes a
Tongan cook down a flight of stairs, breaking his leg. The Tongan crew mutinies, locking the
DSAU officers in a storeroom and sailing the vessel into port in Cuba. Cuba grants them
political asylum on the basis that they are fleeing the exploitation of workers by western
capitalism.
***
Cuba releases the Proliferator to the DSAU authorities, who place it under the command of a
DSAU Navy Captain and bring on board heavily armed private security contractors from
Colombia (pictured below). The contractors are paid to defend the vessel from pirates,
terrorists, and other criminals. They are not part of the DSAU Navy, have their own chain of
command, and make their own operational decisions when carrying out their contractual
functions. They are not trained in international humanitarian law. The Proliferator continues
its journey towards Australia.
In 2050, the southern Pacific Ocean has become increasingly unstable due the effects of climate
change. The EcoWarriors is a well organised, well armed militant organisation of 400 fighters,
operating from the southern Philippines. It aims to disrupt nuclear transport through its selfdeclared ‘Pacific Nuclear Free Zone’. To protect its bases in a chain of forested islands, it has
laid numerous sea mines which automatically explode on contact with any large vessel,
successfully deterring the Philippines military from entering the area. The Philippines
government is still able to provide health services and run schools on the islands.
As the Proliferator passes through Philippines territorial waters, EcoWarriors rams a remotecontrolled ‘drone’ speedboat, packed with explosives, into its hull, incapacitating it. It is
EcoWarriors’ first known attack against any foreign target. The DSAU Navy sends two nearby
ships to rescue the crew and salvage the nuclear cargo. Both ships are struck by sea mines.
3/3
The DSAU government has no specific intelligence but fears that EcoWarriors may attack
again. It asks an Australian Navy nuclear submarine in the vicinity to fire cruise missiles at
EcoWarriors’ island headquarters. The missiles heavily damage the base, which contained the
only maps of the sea mines’ locations. The Philippines reports to the United Nations Security
Council that it is a victim of an armed attack by the United States and Australia, and asks other
states to assist it in exercising self-defence. Russia agrees to assist it.
***
Aboard the crippled Proliferator, the DSAU Navy Captain asks half of the private security
contractors to board two speedboats to attack the remaining EcoWarriors in their headquarters,
and they agree to do it. One boat gets lost in fog and its contractors are captured on a distant
island by the Philippines Army, which charges them with the crime of ‘foreign intervention’.
The other boat lands near the EcoWarriors base, which contains the remaining fighters and
their supporters (including vehicle mechanics, radio technicians, and a social media unit). The
contractors shoot at everyone in the camp. Three contractors are captured and held under guard.
The remaining half of the contractors stay on board to defend the Proliferator, as per their
contract. A unit of EcoWarriors secretly boards the Proliferator. They shoot one armed
contractor standing guard on deck; another cleaning weapons; and one asleep in his bunk. They
disarm the rest. They find the uranium and threaten to blow it up if anyone approaches the
Proliferator. Colombia secretly orders its military to rescue the contractors. Before they arrive,
a Russian cargo ship, crewed by Russian civilian intelligence personnel, with the Philippines’
consent, approaches the Proliferator, and attempts to forcibly recover the nuclear material.
Before they can do so, the Australian submarine torpedoes the Proliferator, concerned that the
EcoWarriors may commit nuclear terrorism or that the Russians will obtain nuclear secrets.
Advise on the following legal issues:
(1) Any potential offences under the sectoral terrorism conventions listed below;
(2) Which states have jurisdiction under the sectoral conventions listed below;
(3) Any issues arising under the international law on the use of force;
(4) Any issues arising under international humanitarian law;
(5) Any issues arising under international human rights law.
List of sectoral conventions:
 Maritime Safety Convention 2005 https://www.jus.uio.no/english/services/library/treaties/07/7-
04/safety-maritime-consolidated.xml
 Terrorist Bombings Convention 1997 https://www.refworld.org/docid/3dda06ddc.html
 Nuclear Material Convention 1979 as amended 2005
https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/infcirc274r1m1.pdf [at Annex pages 1-15]
 Nuclear Terrorism Convention 2005 https://www.refworld.org/docid/425e58694.html
Assume all states are parties to all of the above conventions. In 2048, Australia withdrew from
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1969 and from all IAEA nuclear safeguards agreements.
[End]