UNBISNET subject descriptors:
HIJACKING OF SHIPS
MARITIME SAFETY
PIRACY
OCEAN PIRACY
MARITIME SECURITY
SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA
SAFETY OF NAVIGATION
ROBBERY AT SEA
Brooklyn Law School's SARA catalog subject descriptors:
Maritime Terrorism -- Prevention
Law of the Sea -- Criminal Provisions
Maritime Law -- Criminal Provisions
Merchant Marine --Security Measure -- Bibliography
Hijacking of Ship --Prevention --Bibliography
Others:
Warships
UN Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
Armed Robbery at Sea
Ship Hijacking
Maritime Piracy
Arrest of Ships
Sea Piracy
Piracy at Sea
Counter Piracy
Maritime Security
Image Courtesy of: http://www.agent-seo.com/seo/keyword-research-tools-for-seo/
Best of...
From UNBISNET: the best search to input: maritime piracy; full-text search, match ALL of these words. No quotations on the phrase.
Unfamiliarity with the Subject Area
For those unfamiliar with international law and international organizations, it may be helpful to browse and read up on the treaty research guide and the guide on the United Nations. These both link to official websites that further explain the various international bodies of law. Knowing the functions of the different organs of the United Nations will allow the researcher to better tackle the various documents that will come his or her way during the research (ie: knowing which decisions are binding and on whom, etc.). This is a great link from Globalex on United Nations research.
Unavailability of Resources
Oftentimes, the United Nations website for its treaty collection is unavailable or down due to updates. When this happens, the researcher should note that s/he will NOT be able to access the treaties that s/he may be looking for! It is therefore advisable for the researcher to re-direct him/herself not only to the main United Nations website, but to its other thematic bodies' websites to see if the document can be found in those places instead. Incidentally, some of the legal instruments and treaties are found below either by searching for piracy or browsing the webpage:
In case the UN website is down, other non-UN affiliated wesbites where the LOS Convention and other piracy documents can be directly accessed and linked to are through these links:
Also, some of these treaties may be accessed in some of the databases mentioned in Secondary Sources.
A Considerable Amount of Information on the Law of International Piracy
The researcher should be aware that the law on the prevention of international maritime piracy is not governed by only ONE convention. The law is a bit tricky, because a cursory look at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea website only includes documents related to the LOS Convention. Be aware that your research on the topic is not yet complete, even though the website itself is very thorough on that particular convention! Heading to the International Maritime Organization leads one to other conventions promulgated in the prevention of sea piracy.