Can an unmanned vessel be legally classified as a warship?
Under international law, it must belong to a state’s armed forces, bear external marks distinguishing ships of its nationality, be under a commissioned officer’s command and manned by crew subject to discipline.
But does an officer need to be aboard to command? And does it need to be physically manned, so long as it’s under a crew’s control?
These were some questions discussed during the Strategic Maritime Law and Security Workshop held in Manila, Philippines, from September 9-10.
As part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2024, attendees heard ADF legal officers and Philippine lawyers present on topics including law of the sea and international agreements.
Navy legal officer Lieutenant Commander Mark Gray discussed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
While it doesn’t provide a basis to resolve all disputes, the convention sets out maritime zones, clarifies rights and responsibilities, and has a regime for establishing state’s interests in maritime resources.
“It provides answers to questions about who should be where and who can do what in those places,” Lieutenant Commander Gray said.
“If we don’t talk about these problems with adherence to the convention, we’ll never resolve them.”
‘They encourage people to think about challenging issues and come up with lawful solutions.’
RAAF legal officer Wing Commander Elizabeth Surrey facilitated the workshops’ scenarios on law of the sea.
These covered different maritime zones along with rights and obligations during passage.
“They encourage people to think about challenging issues and come up with lawful solutions,” she said.
Like many RAAF legal officers, Wing Commander Surrey is required to understand maritime zones when advising commanders on over-flight and freedom of navigation.
She also met a legal officer from the Philippine Coast Guard, who was interested in differences between the two countries’ responses to breaches within different maritime zones.
“They are closer to a lot of countries that have different issues in their maritime zones. Theirs are more contested than ours are,” Wing Commander Surrey said.
Some attendees work in national-security policy areas, and as non-lawyers, don’t deal directly with law-of-the-sea interpretation every day, but Lieutenant Commander Gray said they understood the legal principles.
“They’ve been asking terrific questions and their observations have challenged us,” he said.
“They’re facing something that’s of great concern to them but their professional and methodical analysis demonstrate their determination to get it right.”
The workshop was run by ADF Indo-Pacific Centre of Military Law and the Naval Defense College of the Philippines.
