What is "Piracy"?
What is "Armed Robbery against Ships"?
Piracy is defined in the 1982 United Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (article 101) as follow:
"Piracy consists of any of the followings acts:
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or passengers of a private ship or aircraft, and directed:
(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
(c) any act inciting or intentionally facilitating an act as described in subparagraph (a) or (b)."
"Armed Robbery" against ships is defined in the Code of Practice for the Investigation of the Crimes of Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships (resolution A. 1025 (26), annex, paragraph 2.2), as follows:
"Armed robbery against ships means any of the following acts:
(a) any illegal act of violence or detection or any act of depredation, or threat thereof, other than act of piracy, committed for private ends and directed against a ship or against persons or property on board such a ship, within a State's internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial sea;
(b) any act of inciting or intentionally facilitating an act described above."