piracy news
I’ve been slacking on the piracy front lately, so here’s a week’s worth of news. In an effort to get a handle on how much time I’m spending on this, and because piracy is gaining a higher profile in the traditional media, I’m not going to bother reporting on individual acts of piracy anymore, unless they’re particularly noteworthy. I’m going to look for more big-picture stories, and more stories with relevance to global institutions.
Starting today with a good backgrounder from the dread Council on Foreign Relations:
The inability of Somalia to apprehend and prosecute its own pirates creates numerous legal complications for the outside states that are conducting antipiracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. Because so many nations have a vested interest when a ship is hijacked, it’s not immediately clear which country should prosecute pirates. “Consider a typical case: a ship built in Japan, owned by a brass-plate company in Malta, controlled by an Italian, managed by a company in Cyprus, chartered by the French, skippered by a Norwegian, crewed by Indians, registered in Panama, financed by a British bank, carrying a cargo owned by a multinational oil company, is attacked while transiting an international waterway in Indonesian territory and arrested in the Philippines,” writes journalist Burnett in his book on piracy. Legal scholars recommend that apprehended pirates should be prosecuted in the region they are arrested, but in the case of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, East African countries have limited resources for their judicial systems.
A few signs of international cooperation:
A U.S.-based marine conservationist, Joni Lawrence, says by denying fishing vessels access to rich hunting grounds in the Indian Ocean, the pirates could be doing the world a favor.
“In a perverse way, the pirates are definitely doing a good thing because maybe it will raise awareness about the benefits of leaving a fish alone for a while so that people see that it is possible for them to replenish,” said Lawrence. “Over-fishing will disrupt the balance of marine eco-systems and will have a critical effect on local and national economies around the world that depend on fishing for their survival.”
The hijacking of ships off the coast of Somalia has become a mini-industry, with another seized on Thursday. The ransoms are always paid – but how? Simon Cox goes on the money trail and finds all roads lead to one destination: London.
