Suppression of Unlawful Acts Convention Law and Legal Definition
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention) was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The SUA Convention is intended to regulate the unlawful acts which threaten the safety of ships and the security of their passengers and crews. The unlawful acts under the SUA Convention include the seizure of ships by force, acts of violence against persons on board ships, and the placing of devices on board a ship which are likely to destroy or damage it. Member countries are obligated either to extradite or prosecute alleged offenders.
The 2005 Protocol to the SUA Convention adds that a person shall be guilty under the SUA Convention if such person does any act to intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international organization to do or to abstain from any act; uses against or on a ship or discharging from a ship any explosive, radioactive material or BCN (biological, chemical, nuclear) weapon in a manner that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage; discharges, from a ship, oil, liquefied natural gas, or other hazardous or noxious substance, in such quantity or concentration that causes or is likely to cause death or serious injury or damage; or uses a ship in a manner that causes death or serious injury or damage. A person who transports on board a ship any fissionable material, explosive or radioactive material, knowing that it is intended to be used to cause, or in a threat to cause, death or serious injury or damage will be guilty under the new provisions. However, transportation of nuclear material is not considered an offence if such item or material is transported to or from the territory of a State Party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.