Red Sea Attacks and the International Response: - An International Law

It also took “note” of Accordingly, the remainder of this Insight is organized thus: first, a short overview of the the right of Houthis and the legal status of the relevant conflicts (Section II); second, a discussion of Member States “in the legal qualification of the Houthi attacks and an analysis of the legality of the responses accordance with by third States in the region under international. [...] Yet, against the background of the insurgency in Yemen, the United States' drone strikes, and the scope of their mission more generally broadened to include wider support to the government against the insurgency by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Hence, the United States is considered a party to the conflict’ (n 32). [...] and cannot be addressed in the The crime of piracy is regulated both by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea same manner by the target or third (UNCLOS) 45 and customary international law.46 It is considered one of the oldest crimes in States. [...] It is submitted that these acts fall under the scope of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (‘SUA Convention’).93 The SUA Convention was concluded in the aftermath of the hijacking of the Achille Lauro,94 and aimed to regulate acts that threatened maritime navigation, but fell short of qualifying as piracy under international law. [...] In any event, this author subscribes to the view that Article 51 of the UN Charter applies only to the inter-state use of force,119 and is hence of the view that none of the attacks launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea can trigger the right of self-defence under international law.120 Concluding Thoughts Admittedly, the ongoing crisis in the Red Sea, which at the time of writing (24/01/2024) cont.