The Tanker War and the Law of Armed Conflict (Loac)
Chapter V THE TANKER WAR AND THE LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT (LOAC) he 1980-88 Tanker War nearly ran the gamut of issues related to the law of T armed conflict (LOAC), or the law ofwar (LOW) and its component, the law of naval warfare (LONW). The general law of maritime neutrality, general issues of necessity and proportionality, and issues of specific concern-visit and search including operations against convoyed, escorted or accompanied neutral mer chant ships; commerce ofbelligerents including belligerents' convoys and contra band; acquisition of enemy character; blockade, maritime exclusion and other zones and other uses of the ocean for warfare; capture of neutral vessels; humani tarian law and belligerents' personnel interned by neutral governments; targeting of ships and aircraft including convoys; conventional weapons; mine warfare; treatment of noncombatants, e.g., merchant seamen; deception (ruses ofwar) dur ing armed conflict-all figured during the Tanker War. These are the subjects of this Chapter as they applied to belligerents and neutrals during the war. Chapter III analyzed UN Charter law with particular reference to the law of self-defense and its relationship to the law ofneutrality, the law oftreaties, custom ary law, andjus cogens-based norms, and the general principles ofneutrality as they apply to war at sea, and to conduct between neutrals and belligerents. This Chapter will not repeat that analysis, except as it interfaces with the LOAC in situations in volving neutrals, e.g., mine warfare, discussed in sub-Part G.2. Chapter IV analyzed the law of the sea, and those principles will not be repeated in here, except as LOS concepts, e.g., due regard for others' uses of the sea, 1 apply by analogy in the LOAC.
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