The long awaited 100 Series rules for the use of force (RUF) have finally been released after a 20-month consultation period across the shipping industry.
With the support of SAMI, BIMCO, ICS, and UNICRI who have played a key role in making RUF possible, the author David Hammond, a UK barrister-at-law and maritime lawyer, said the 100 Series RUF is intended to be the first international model set of RUF for the benefit of and use by the entire maritime industry.
However the rules will not provide any form of indemnity or immunity against civil or criminal liability when force has been used unlawfully, they exist to provide a model against which privately contracted armed security personnel may be professionally trained; companies may be audited and operator actions measured and judged by competent authorities.
The guidance of the past simply wasn’t enough – there is a “perversity” that rules for the use of force have not existed, and according to David Hammond there is no definition of the term “guidance” in any legal dictionary – so it was clear that something was lacking in the provision of support to the maritime industry.
The rules set out a threshold to start using force, soft measures come first, then escalating to aimed warning shots, finally rule 103 allows use of lethal force. The laying out of the steps is key, before there was simply guesswork, but now there is a process and a means of working within the boundaries of acceptability – it also addresses human rights in terms of the use of force at sea, providing as it does not just protection for the guard, but seafarers, and also the pirates.
