Piracy – recent developments

Pirate attacks have this year increased to a frequency of about one a day. Ransoms, although each individual one is paid in a desperate situation and on a perfectly reasonable footing, do nothing to deter the industry of piracy. The recent Security Council Resolution 1918 (2010) adds to the international legal measures on piracy and foreshadows interesting new developments in the Somali piracy saga.

Johanna Hjalmarsson and Alexandros Ntovas, University of Southampton

A serious problem with tackling piracy has proven to be what to do with captured pirates. If releasing them is not an option and there is little appetite for incarceration without due procedure or shooting on sight, they must be prosecuted in a recognised judicial system and with appropriate rights of defence, and incarcerated for a reasonable amount of time both to set an example and to prevent reoffending. Somalia does not presently have a justice or correctional system that is up to the challenge. Western states, who are most likely to capture pirates with the naval operations in place to protect shipping, are reluctant to bring Somali pirates back to Europe or America for costly prosecution, only to have them become an even costlier burden on the correctional system. That leaves the few states in the region that have thus far shown a willingness to participate – but Kenya, which had until recently received captured pirates for local prosecution, says that its courts and remand facilities are now full.