International law comprises both traditional precepts that are not codified and a series of conventions and protocols which must be ratified by individual nations in order for those conventions and protocols to apply to those nations. It isn`t all lock-step: a country that does not ratify a particular convention need not abide by it.
However, since you raised the point, if you don`t mind, Google M/V MINERAL DAMPIER. There is a traditional principle that vessels come to the aid of vessels in distress, no matter what the flag, no matter what the jurisdiction. The MINERAL DAMPIER, a vessel owned by Zodiac (alter ego: Zim), an Israeli-owned company, went down all hands in the South China Sea. No fewer than eight vessels could have reached her and saved the crew. They chose to ignore her distress signals SIMPLY because the seafarers were Jewish and the ownership Israeli. Stop your pious bleatings about "rule of law." Okay? |
|
