User:InsaneHacker/sandbox/Rainbow Warrior

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and resulting death of Fernando Pereira caused by French foreign intelligence agents while the ship was moored in Auckland, New Zealand resulted in multiple international legal cases, two between New Zealand and France, and one between France and Greenpeace, the owner and operator of the ship.

Of the cases between New Zealand and France, one was a non-binding 'ruling' by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Javier Pérez de Cuéllar regarding responsibility, reparations, and the fate of the French agents who committed the scuttling, which the two countries adopted as binding in a subsequent exchange of letters. The other was an arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration regarding the removal of the French agents from the island on which they were detained in contravention of the agreements concluded after the ruling of the Secretary-General.

The case between France and Greenpeace was an arbitration to determine the damages owed by France to Greenpeace. Going into the case, France had already acknowledged liability for the scuttling, and thus the only task for the arbitrators was to determine the amount owed. The tribunal awarded Greenpeace more than 8.1 million dollars, including expenses, legal fees and interest.

France and the family of Pereira settled the matter of compensation for his death privately.

France–Greenpeace arbitration
Shortly following the incident and subsequent reveal of the French involvement, France and 'the various organizations that constitute the Greenpeace movement' agreed to have the matter of compensation decided by an arbitral tribunal. The tribunal consisted of Professor Emeritus Claude Reymond of the University of Lausanne, President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand Sir Owen Woodhouse and Professor François Terré of the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas.

Due to the principles of state and sovereign immunity, Greenpeace would have had difficulties pursuing the matter in a New Zealand, French, or other national court, and in leiu of arbitration would have had to convince a state to elevate the case to the International Court of Justice. In a speech at the Geneva Global Arbitration Forum, Reymond noted that France entering into an arbitration agreement 'had the great advantage of providing a forum for Greenpeace'. According to a report by The New York Times Greenpeace had threatened to sue France in a New Zealand court prior to the arbitration agreement.