Draft of Territorial Waters & Maritime Zone Act approved
The draft of ‘Territorial Waters and Maritime Zone (Amendment) Act 2019’ aimed at unlocking huge potentials of the blue economy and checking crimes, particularly piracy on the sea was approved on Monday (Nov.25) by the cabinet.
The approval came from the regular Cabinet meeting held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at her office in the PMO. After the meeting Cabinet secretary Khondoker Anowarul Islam briefed the waiting journalists.
He said that the Foreign Ministry brought the proposed law before the Cabinet for its approval in accordance with various sea related international laws and conventions.
The country’s top bureaucrat said if the law is enacted, the rights of Bangladesh for exclusive economic zone over 200 nautical miles and its sovereign rights over 350 nautical miles in the continental shelf of the sea will be established. The Cabinet Secretary further said that according to article 143 (1) (KH) & 143 (2) of Bangladesh constitution Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1974 fixed the Maritime of Zone of Bangladesh and drafted the Territorial Waters and Maritime Zone Act, 1974.
Under the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, all coastal countries are granted sovereign right to stretch of sea extending 200 nautical miles beyond their coast, which is known as exclusive economic zone.
The proposed law has suggested capital punishment for murder while committing robbery and other sea related crimes, he said.
As per the proposed law, the highest punishment for robbery is life-term imprisonment, while 14-year imprisonment will be awarded for abetting such crimes, he said.
The cabinet also gave approval to the proposal for ratification of “The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol.”
In 2016, the amendment was brought to the protocol in Ruanda for the phase-down of hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) by cutting their production and consumption.