ZINO UGBOMA | Swansea University (original) (raw)
Papers by ZINO UGBOMA
Global Health Action, 2019
![Research paper thumbnail of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary. Vol.III. Edited by S. N. Nandan and S. Rosenne. [The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 1995. xlv + 687 pp. ISBN 90–411–0035–0. £127]](https://a.academia-assets.com/images/blank-paper.jpg)
](International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 1997
In classical international law, States were held responsible for acts carried out by its agents i... more In classical international law, States were held responsible for acts carried out by its agents in prosecution of its agenda. This practice was soon discovered to be a motivator for unthinkable barbarity on the part of officers of the state. At the close of the First World War, the victorious parties therefore sought to change the narrative by introducing and enforcing the concept of individual criminal responsibility for the barbarous acts carried out during the war. The rationale for this being that States as abstract entities do not have minds to conceive neither do, they have limbs to execute physical acts of criminality. From that time up until today, international law has developed the concept of individual criminal responsibility such that an individual who engages in criminality especially during armed conflict can no longer plead as a defence that he was acting on orders of or on behalf of a state. In the last one decade, the Nigerian state has been enmeshed in a fratricida...
International Humanitarian law, does not adequately cover the field of non-international armed c... more International Humanitarian law, does not adequately cover the field of non-international armed conflicts. One of the most troubling results of this oversight is the inhumane treatment that detainees are subjected to in such conflicts. This paper engages in the task of pointing out that despite the shortcomings of IHL, parties to non-international armed conflicts still have obligations under International Law. The foundation on which the argument is built, is the international law principle of lex specialis and lex generalis
The use of force for the attainment of group objectives is of immemorial antiquity and predates t... more The use of force for the attainment of group objectives is of immemorial antiquity and predates the establishment of modern states. Stories from religious books like the Holy Bible and the Koran, in addition to the writings of the most ancient chroniclers from Homer to Josephus through to African traditional folklore attest to this fact.
And whereas the use of force had come to be accepted as a necessary evil with its attendant horrors, the dictates of mans innate humanity ensconced in the inner recesses of the mind had propelled the most civilized of men to display chivalrous conduct during armed conflicts. The evolution of the state and development of the Jus Gentium has therefore led to the emergence of laws meant to regulate the prosecution of armed conflict.
The thrust of this paper is the evolution of human conduct in times of armed conflict from a display of impunity to an exercise of restraint in behavior under the guidance of laws. It focuses on the tortuous process through which human kind has gone in order to preserve sane behavior during armed conflict. In doing this, attention was given to general principles and workings of International Humanitarian Law, legal regimes in International Humanitarian Law, and the evolution of the concept of individual criminal responsibility.
Also the jurisprudence of a few international tribunals and their additions to the body of knowledge is glossed over. The ICC is not left out, and conclusions and recommendations were made.
Maritime mischief and disorder is a subsisting international problem that has in the last two dec... more Maritime mischief and disorder is a subsisting international problem that has in the last two decades attracted unprecedented attention. This is as a result of an unusual upsurge in such activities especially along the Malacca and Singapore Straits and also in East Africa, off the coast of Somalia . The International Maritime Bureau reports that in the first nine months of 2009, there were 294 reported cases of pirate attacks from all over the world and the majority of these reported attacks occur in South East Asia, off the horn of Africa and along the west coast of Africa . The negative colossal effect of this on International Commerce cannot be overemphasized when looked at against the backdrop of the fact that 90percent of world trade is carried on by the international shipping industry with about fifty thousand merchant ships carrying all sort of cargo around the world, in addition to hundreds of cruise liners carrying hundreds of thousands of people and over one million seafarers from every nationality of the world
This paper attempts to critique the prevailing concept of piracy as contained in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982 in order to see whether the provisions contained therein are sufficient to meet the present challenges of piracy especially the glaring problems of sanctity of the sovereignty of coastal States over their territorial seas and a seeming lack of political will to prosecute pirates.
In doing this, we would be looking at the concept of piracy as it was understood from old times, through the period of privateering to the modern era of international treaties culminating in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982. We would go further to x-ray the modern day provisions of what amounts to piracy, highlighting its elements as contained in the law and juxtaposing same with the reality of the modus operandi of modern day deprecators by sea. In particular, there will be a commentary on the geographical requirement of the offence and the academic fireworks generated by phrase “for private ends”, with this writer showing a bias for the argument that the phrase means actions without State sanction and nothing more.
Furthermore the paper goes on to look at measures that have been put in place to tackle the problems by the United Nations Security Council and regional efforts in the same direction particularly in Somalia and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore respectively. A gloss over the SUA Convention and its test case applicability in United States v Shi will also be attempted.
Drafts by ZINO UGBOMA
As it is said among people of old, change is a desideratum of time. It is therefore not unexpecte... more As it is said among people of old, change is a desideratum of time. It is therefore not unexpected that as Nigeria's Democracy grows, our laws must of necessity live up to the demands of the changing times. It is as a result of the quest to bring our laws up to date that stakeholders through tortuous processes have given to the nation, The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. Offcourse contentious provisions of the Act are being tested daily with lawyers proffering interpretations of such same provisions. It is however a duty for the courts to give final interpretations to such contentious provisions. Very recently, one of such issues arose for determination of the court. The question presented to the court is as follows, " Taking into consideration, the provisions of Section 355 of the ACJL, where a complainant lays allegations against a person and on account of such allegations, a prosecuting authority within the justice system, initiates criminal proceedings against such an accused person, can the complainant thereafter withdraw the complaint and by virtue of that withdrawal compel the prosecuting authority to discontinue the case? " In other words, " Can a prosecuting authority continue to prosecute an accused person when the complainant withdraws his allegations against accused person? " The background to the poser is that in the last quarter of 2015, an Abuja based musician lodged a complaint with the Nigerian Copyright Commission against Telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, for selling to its subscribers without his consent, music tracks he created as ring tones. The NCC began investigations and thereafter based on powers coffered on it by Section 20 Nigerian Copyright Act, instituted criminal proceedings in the Federal High Court against MTN Nigeria and its expatriate Managing Director for criminal breach of copyright. In the meantime, the musician pursuant to the provisions of Section 24 of the Copyright Act assembled a legal team and instituted civil proceedings against MTN Nigeria. Before long, the parties in the civil suit reached an amicable settlement of the dispute. Among the terms of settlement adopted as consent judgment of the honorable court was the following clause " The plaintiff by the execution of these terms of settlement hereby withdraws all his processes or petitions pending before this honorable court or any other authority " In order to give teeth to the above clause, the plaintiff who is the petitioner in the criminal proceedings by way of motion on notice brought pursuant to Section 17 of the Federal High Court Act, Section 355 and Section 494 of the ACJA intervened in the criminal trial of MTN Nigeria requesting the court to discontinue the trial of the accused persons. Section 355 of the ACJA 2015, provides as follows; " Where a complainant at any time before a final order is made in a case, satisfies the court that there are sufficient grounds for permitting him to withdraw his complaint, the court may permit him to withdraw the complaint and shall thereupon acquit the defendant ". Section 17 Federal High Court Act provides as follows; " In any proceedings in the Court, the Court may promote reconciliation among the parties thereto and encourage and facilitate the amicable settlement thereof " .
Global Health Action, 2019
International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 1997
In classical international law, States were held responsible for acts carried out by its agents i... more In classical international law, States were held responsible for acts carried out by its agents in prosecution of its agenda. This practice was soon discovered to be a motivator for unthinkable barbarity on the part of officers of the state. At the close of the First World War, the victorious parties therefore sought to change the narrative by introducing and enforcing the concept of individual criminal responsibility for the barbarous acts carried out during the war. The rationale for this being that States as abstract entities do not have minds to conceive neither do, they have limbs to execute physical acts of criminality. From that time up until today, international law has developed the concept of individual criminal responsibility such that an individual who engages in criminality especially during armed conflict can no longer plead as a defence that he was acting on orders of or on behalf of a state. In the last one decade, the Nigerian state has been enmeshed in a fratricida...
International Humanitarian law, does not adequately cover the field of non-international armed c... more International Humanitarian law, does not adequately cover the field of non-international armed conflicts. One of the most troubling results of this oversight is the inhumane treatment that detainees are subjected to in such conflicts. This paper engages in the task of pointing out that despite the shortcomings of IHL, parties to non-international armed conflicts still have obligations under International Law. The foundation on which the argument is built, is the international law principle of lex specialis and lex generalis
The use of force for the attainment of group objectives is of immemorial antiquity and predates t... more The use of force for the attainment of group objectives is of immemorial antiquity and predates the establishment of modern states. Stories from religious books like the Holy Bible and the Koran, in addition to the writings of the most ancient chroniclers from Homer to Josephus through to African traditional folklore attest to this fact.
And whereas the use of force had come to be accepted as a necessary evil with its attendant horrors, the dictates of mans innate humanity ensconced in the inner recesses of the mind had propelled the most civilized of men to display chivalrous conduct during armed conflicts. The evolution of the state and development of the Jus Gentium has therefore led to the emergence of laws meant to regulate the prosecution of armed conflict.
The thrust of this paper is the evolution of human conduct in times of armed conflict from a display of impunity to an exercise of restraint in behavior under the guidance of laws. It focuses on the tortuous process through which human kind has gone in order to preserve sane behavior during armed conflict. In doing this, attention was given to general principles and workings of International Humanitarian Law, legal regimes in International Humanitarian Law, and the evolution of the concept of individual criminal responsibility.
Also the jurisprudence of a few international tribunals and their additions to the body of knowledge is glossed over. The ICC is not left out, and conclusions and recommendations were made.
Maritime mischief and disorder is a subsisting international problem that has in the last two dec... more Maritime mischief and disorder is a subsisting international problem that has in the last two decades attracted unprecedented attention. This is as a result of an unusual upsurge in such activities especially along the Malacca and Singapore Straits and also in East Africa, off the coast of Somalia . The International Maritime Bureau reports that in the first nine months of 2009, there were 294 reported cases of pirate attacks from all over the world and the majority of these reported attacks occur in South East Asia, off the horn of Africa and along the west coast of Africa . The negative colossal effect of this on International Commerce cannot be overemphasized when looked at against the backdrop of the fact that 90percent of world trade is carried on by the international shipping industry with about fifty thousand merchant ships carrying all sort of cargo around the world, in addition to hundreds of cruise liners carrying hundreds of thousands of people and over one million seafarers from every nationality of the world
This paper attempts to critique the prevailing concept of piracy as contained in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982 in order to see whether the provisions contained therein are sufficient to meet the present challenges of piracy especially the glaring problems of sanctity of the sovereignty of coastal States over their territorial seas and a seeming lack of political will to prosecute pirates.
In doing this, we would be looking at the concept of piracy as it was understood from old times, through the period of privateering to the modern era of international treaties culminating in the Law of the Sea Convention 1982. We would go further to x-ray the modern day provisions of what amounts to piracy, highlighting its elements as contained in the law and juxtaposing same with the reality of the modus operandi of modern day deprecators by sea. In particular, there will be a commentary on the geographical requirement of the offence and the academic fireworks generated by phrase “for private ends”, with this writer showing a bias for the argument that the phrase means actions without State sanction and nothing more.
Furthermore the paper goes on to look at measures that have been put in place to tackle the problems by the United Nations Security Council and regional efforts in the same direction particularly in Somalia and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore respectively. A gloss over the SUA Convention and its test case applicability in United States v Shi will also be attempted.
As it is said among people of old, change is a desideratum of time. It is therefore not unexpecte... more As it is said among people of old, change is a desideratum of time. It is therefore not unexpected that as Nigeria's Democracy grows, our laws must of necessity live up to the demands of the changing times. It is as a result of the quest to bring our laws up to date that stakeholders through tortuous processes have given to the nation, The Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. Offcourse contentious provisions of the Act are being tested daily with lawyers proffering interpretations of such same provisions. It is however a duty for the courts to give final interpretations to such contentious provisions. Very recently, one of such issues arose for determination of the court. The question presented to the court is as follows, " Taking into consideration, the provisions of Section 355 of the ACJL, where a complainant lays allegations against a person and on account of such allegations, a prosecuting authority within the justice system, initiates criminal proceedings against such an accused person, can the complainant thereafter withdraw the complaint and by virtue of that withdrawal compel the prosecuting authority to discontinue the case? " In other words, " Can a prosecuting authority continue to prosecute an accused person when the complainant withdraws his allegations against accused person? " The background to the poser is that in the last quarter of 2015, an Abuja based musician lodged a complaint with the Nigerian Copyright Commission against Telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, for selling to its subscribers without his consent, music tracks he created as ring tones. The NCC began investigations and thereafter based on powers coffered on it by Section 20 Nigerian Copyright Act, instituted criminal proceedings in the Federal High Court against MTN Nigeria and its expatriate Managing Director for criminal breach of copyright. In the meantime, the musician pursuant to the provisions of Section 24 of the Copyright Act assembled a legal team and instituted civil proceedings against MTN Nigeria. Before long, the parties in the civil suit reached an amicable settlement of the dispute. Among the terms of settlement adopted as consent judgment of the honorable court was the following clause " The plaintiff by the execution of these terms of settlement hereby withdraws all his processes or petitions pending before this honorable court or any other authority " In order to give teeth to the above clause, the plaintiff who is the petitioner in the criminal proceedings by way of motion on notice brought pursuant to Section 17 of the Federal High Court Act, Section 355 and Section 494 of the ACJA intervened in the criminal trial of MTN Nigeria requesting the court to discontinue the trial of the accused persons. Section 355 of the ACJA 2015, provides as follows; " Where a complainant at any time before a final order is made in a case, satisfies the court that there are sufficient grounds for permitting him to withdraw his complaint, the court may permit him to withdraw the complaint and shall thereupon acquit the defendant ". Section 17 Federal High Court Act provides as follows; " In any proceedings in the Court, the Court may promote reconciliation among the parties thereto and encourage and facilitate the amicable settlement thereof " .