Maritime Piracy dissertation First Class in Jesus name.#faith … edited one! (1)

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`LAW OF THE SEA THESIS
Maritime piracy continues to plague international shipping operations, raising
significant questions concerning the international legal response to such activities.
You have been commissioned by Chatham House, a leading think-tank on
international issues, to provide a legal opinion on the key legislative and practical
issues engaged by fighting piracy, with particular reference to jurisdictional
problems, rights of the accused and the use of private military contractors.
Submitted to Swansea University in Fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of LLM in International Maritime Law
SWANSEA UNIVERSITY
September 28th
2012
Name: Omotoyosi Ayobami James
Student Number: 619964
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Cadell

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Table of Contents
Abstract.............................................................................................................................................................3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...............................................................................................................................4
Acronyms.........................................................................................................................................................5
Introduction...................................................................................................................................................6
Major thesis question and Outline...............................................................................................6
Overview ofMaritime Piracy...............................................................................................................8
What is Maritime Piracy?.................................................................................................................8
International Maritime Bureau...................................................................................................10
The International Maritime organization...............................................................................10
History: Old age Piracy...................................................................................................................11
Modern day Pirates..........................................................................................................................12
Forms of Piracy Attacks..................................................................................................................15
Maritime Piracy and Terrorism..................................................................................................17
The root cause of Piracy.......................................................................................................................19
Somalia, a failed state – The root cause of Somali pirates...............................................20
The Impact ofMaritime Piracy.........................................................................................................23
How Maritime Piracy affects the International Shipping industries..........................23
Re-Routing ...........................................................................................................................................23
Insurance premium costs..............................................................................................................24
Ransom Cost........................................................................................................................................25
Maritime environment disaster..................................................................................................27
Effect on International Trade.......................................................................................................28
Legal and Practical problems faced in combating maritime piracy...........................29
The cost of security equipment and the use of private armed guard (Private
Military Contractors) to fight maritime piracy ....................................................................30
The problems of detaining and prosecuting pirates..........................................................34
No creation of an International Court to deal with Pirates ............................................36
Human Right Law and Piracy ......................................................................................................36
The Flaws of the UNCLOS 1982..................................................................................................39
United Nation Security Council Security Resolutions; fills in the gaps of
International laws on piracy?......................................................................................................43
The SUA Convention........................................................................................................................45
Naval actions to fight maritime pirates...................................................................................46
The EU NAVFOR Counter Piracy Operation- Operation Atlanta Initiative ..............46
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................50
Cases................................................................................................................................................................55
Conventions.................................................................................................................................................55

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Abstract
The sea is the most used source of international Trading operations over the
year. As a result of the high usage of the sea and because it is an easy place to
carry out illegal activities there have been concerns about security at sea. There
are different crimes that occur at sea, but the major problem is sea piracy.
Different domestic and international laws have been created in order to control
and combat this dangerous maritime crime, but it seems to be of little help
because piracy still poses a great problem in the world of international shipping
operations and danger to lives of people at sea. Maritime piracy has an adverse
effect on individual and government bodies in different ways either directly or
indirectly and therefore it needs to be combated.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank the Almighty God for his mercies, protection and
strength for completing this paper, because without the Lord this would have
not been accomplished. I would also like to thank my family members, most
especially Mr. Gbenga and Mrs. Funmilayo James for their continuous moral
and financial support, love and encouragement necessary to be who I am
today.
Thanks goes to my supervisor, Professor Richard Cadell for his appreciated
guidance and support throughout the phase of writing this thesis
Also thanks goes to my friends, especially Yinka Dosunmu and Tolu openiyi for
their encouragement.

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Acronyms
 CTF-150: Combined Task Force
 CTF-151: Combined Task Force
 ECHR: European Community Human Right
 EU: European Union
 EUNAVFOR: European Union Forces
 HOA: Horn of Africa
 IMB: International Maritime Bureau
 IMO: International Maritime Organization
 NATO: Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization
 UNCLOS: United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea
 PMSC: Private Military Security Company
 SUA: Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime
Navigation Convention

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Introduction
Major thesis question and Outline
To most people when they hear the word “piracy” the image that is depicted in
their mind is of a bearded man with earrings, a peg leg, an eye patch, and a
parrot on the shoulder as epitomized by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Long John
Silver1. What most people do not realize is that piracy is real and it is a threat to
the security of lives at sea and immensely affecting the shipping industry, which
has an adverse effect on the world’s economy. In modern times, maritime
piracy has become a major issue of alarm for the International shipping
industry. These days, piracy is obliterating and troubling the international
shipping industry worldwide. Maritime Piracy has continuously plagued the
world’s shipping lane since over five hundred years ago and greatly has a bad
effect on the world economy. With reference to how piracy affects world
economy, during the late sixteenth century, Algerian and Tunisian Pirates
caused an almost irreversible decline in the viability of Venice as a trading
state.2
From my research I found out that millions of pounds have been lost due to
maritime piracy. In January 1999 HM Foreign and Commonwealth office
1 C.Liss, “Oceans of Crime: Maritime Piracy and Transnational Security in Southeast Asia and
Bangladesh”.(Singapore, ISEAS Publishing,2011)
2 James Kraska and Brian Wilson, "Fighting Pirates: The Pen and the Sword," World Policy Journal
(September 2008/09),43.

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produced a paper, which stated that modern piracy was a “real and growing
problem”.3 The majority of trade that runs the global economy is mostly
transported by vessels (Roughly about eighty percent of the world trade travels
by sea), thus it is necessary for the sea to be a safe place, but unfortunately the
pirates are causing disruption to the easy flow of trade on the sea. Major
National states came together such has United States, France, Great Britain to
eradicate piracy. With the struggles of these states the era of piracy came to an
end in the 19th century. Piracy came into existence again by the 1980’s even
more harmful and powerful than before. Ever since the 1980’s piracy attack
have not been eradicated anywhere in the world ocean it is even growing
forces.
I ambiance piracy can only be reduced to a very minimal level, which will not
have as much adverse effect on the Shipping industry as it is presently.
In order to seek answers to my thesis question in details I have gone ahead
to divide this paper into five major sections.
In part 1, I started out by giving an overview about maritime piracy in general.
Afterwards I went to discuss about the root cause of maritime piracy. Somalia
was my case study to illustrate the root cause of piracy. In part 3, I went ahead
to discuss about how maritime piracy affects the shipping industry. The focus of
this thesis is found in part four where I talk about the legal and practical
problems faced in combatting maritime piracy. In part five I discussed about the
recent counter piracy operations and some of their flaws. The final part is my
3 L. Butcher, Piracy atSea: Overview and policy responses.(Houseof Commons Library) February
28th 2012 pg. 2

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conclusion, this bit summarizes my view on maritime piracy and I also gave my
legal and practical suggestions on how to fight maritime piracy.
Overview of Maritime Piracy
The objective of this part of the paper is to discuss the meaning of Maritime
piracy, explore the history and modern developments in maritime piracy, the
various forms of piracy attacks and compare piracy with acts of terrorism. I am
going to be discussing how maritime piracy has transformed over the years and
also discuss the areas where pirates often operate in the world’s oceans. Note
that I will be mostly referring to Somali pirates in this paper, because they have
been a major threat to international shipping in recent times (early 21st
century).
What is Maritime Piracy?
The word “pirates” is originated from the Greek word ‘peirates”, which means
an adventurer who attacked a ship. From the earliest times, the idea of piracy
has always involved the forcible seizure of property4. There are different
definitions on piracy. An American Jurist, John Bouvier in his 1897 Bouvier’s
Law Dictionary defined piracy as: a robbery or forcible depredation on the high
seas, without lawful authority, done animus furandi, in the spirit and with
intention of universal hostility. Several institutions have also made efforts in
defining piracy. The most universally recognized definition of Maritime piracy is
obtained from the United Nations, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)
4 Rubin,The Law of Piracy,2nd edition Transnational Publishers(New York, 1998).

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and the International Maritime Organizations (IMO). The following definitions
are stated below.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Article 101
The UNCLOS 1982 defines maritime piracy has;
“Any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed
for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private
aircraft, and directed: (i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or
against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft; (ii) against a ship,
aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State; (b)
any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft
with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft; (c) any act of inciting
or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b)”
I feel the definition of piracy provided by UNCLOS seems lacking as an
instrument for policy makers and needs to be amended. There are various
loopholes with the definition of Piracy under Article 101 of the UNCLOS. The
1958 Geneva Convention on the High seas Article fifteen’s definition is
essentially the same definition as the UNCLOS Article 101. This shows that
there has not been any great amendment to the definition of piracy, it is still
the same law covering the old type of pirates that are not as technology
advanced as today’s pirates. I am going to shed more light about the Loopholes
of UNCLOS 101 in the latter section of this paper when talking about the flaws

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of the UNCLOS 1982 in fighting maritime piracy
International Maritime Bureau
This establishment defines Maritime piracy as;
“An act of boarding or attempting to board any ship with the apparent intent to
commit theft or any other crime and with apparent intent or capability to use
force or furtherance of that act”
The IMB definition is broader than the definition of the LOSC Article 101. It
includes any attack or attempted attacks on a ship or vessel. The definition is
not really concerned with a strict legal definition as such rather a more practical
one.
The International Maritime organization
The IMO has attempted to close the definition gap by using both the UNCLOS
and IMB definitions.5 The IMO defines maritime piracy as:
“Any unlawful act of violence or detention or any act of depredation, threat
therefore, other than an act of piracy directed against a ship or against persons
or property on board such ships, within a state’s jurisdiction over such offences”
The problem that the above definition poses is that it makes piracy seems
connected to terrorism. I will talk about this more in the latter part of this
paper when I am discussing on the comparison between piracy attacks and acts
of terrorism.
5 U.N International MaritimeOrganization,MSC.4/Circ.11 53,June 1, 2004,1.

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History: Old age Piracy
Piracy can be assumed to have been in existence since the times oceans
have been utilized for seafaring and trading. Piracy began over 2000 years ago
in Ancient Greece, when sea robbers threatened the trading routes of Ancient
Greece.6 These pirates normally use small-scale instruments such as cutlasses.
An old age pirate attacks other ships to pinch properties from the ships or just
capture the ships to use it for their own purposefulness.
The Golden age era of pirates was during 1620 to 1720, that is to say piracy
attacks in all parts of the world ocean were on the high side. There were
different forms of pirates, they are, privateers, buccaneers and corsairs.
Privateers are state sponsored pirates they were authorized by their
governments to attack other nation’s ship for political reasons. These types of
pirates were excusable from being charged with piracy. Francis Drake from
England can exemplify this act of piracy. In the sixteenth century he attacked
Spanish treasure ships returning from the new world, sharing his profits with
Elizabeth I, who knighted him for his services7. During this period, piracy was
seen as a profession. In 1856 the act of piracy lost its official legitimation when
the Paris Declaration and Maritime rights put an end to state-authorized
privateering and when the Brussels act finally abolished slavery in 1890.8
By 1970 and 1980 piracy arose and became a grave threat to commercial ships
and their crew. This sole reason was why the International Maritime Bureau
6 History of Piracy http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_piracy.htm
7 Ibid
8 Munich Re, “Piracy- Threat at sea” pg. 11

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(IMB) had set up a piracy-reporting center in 1981. Piracy attacks have kept on
increasing since the past decades and the opinion of it being eradicated is far
from true. Piracy has progressed with the developments of new technology.
The Somali pirates can epitomize this, the pirates evolved from hijacking
ordinary fishing vessels and stealing their catch to targeting much more
lucrative merchant vessels. I am going to proceed to discuss on how Pirates
attacks these days to show how they have successfully become advanced and
more dangerous.
Modern day Pirates
Piracy almost came to a halt in the 19th and 20th century. The reasons were
due to Naval patrols on the High seas, increase in size of vessels, general
recognition of piracy being an International offence and regular administration
of most Islands and lands in the world. Notwithstanding, piracy is still in
existence. Piracy attacks are even more violent than before especially in the
waters of Somalia and Southeast Asia. These days pirates use advance
weapons such as machine guns, Grenades, missiles, global positioning systems,
and satellite phones whilst on a faster mode of transportation. The Modern day
pirate attacks has become a big worry the attacks are getting much more
violent according to Andrew Linington, of the maritime officer, union, Numast,
which warns about the escalating problems of piracy.9
It is estimated that the number of attacks between 2006 to July 2012 was 2,274
in total including attempted pirates attacks. The amount of piracy attacks
9 S. Coughlan,Riseof Modern day pirates Online:July 6th 2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5146582.stm

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reported annually by the IMB is even believed not to be the actual number of
piracy attacks, because some attacks are not reported to the IMB piracy
reporting center due to fear of increase in insurance premium, the reporting
procedure is said to be expensive and time consuming and they feel reporting
pirate attacks won’t really do much in helping them recoup their stolen
cargoes. In order to show the statistics of piracy attacks from 2006 to July
2012, I have reproduced a graph below.
Source: ICC - International Chamber of Commerce
The graph above depicts that piracy attacks kept on increasing for five
consecutive years (from 2006 – 2010), but later decreased in 2011 just with a
minute percentage.
Major piracy attacks have happened in recent times for example, in 2008,

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pirates hijacked the MV Sirius Star, which carried a large amount of Saudi
Arabia’s daily oil production and the MV Faina the Ukraine cargo ship. The MV
Sirus Star is said to be the biggest vessel ever hijacked. The aftermath of this
resulted to even a higher number of hijacked cargo ships and crude oil tankers.
The ransom payment became even higher. In year 2009, piracy attacks even
became more aggressive and gorier. All these escalation in piracy attacks
generated an abundant pact of worldwide media notice.
The spread of sea piracy, in contemporary times is not restricted to just one
particular sea area or zone.10 New pirates hotspot emerges over a period of
time. The major pirates hotspots in modern times are mentioned below, they
are;
Gulf of Aden
Benin
Nigeria
Gulf of Guinea
Somalia
Indonesia
Indian Ocean
Arabian Sea
South China Sea
Malacca Strait
10 Sharda,10 maritime piracy affected areas around the world
http://www.closeprotectionworld.com/maritime-security-forum/68787-piracy-hotspots.html
(August 16, 2011).

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There are more areas pirates operate, but the ones mentioned above are
the major pirate routes. These hotspots of pirates mentioned above are
important maritime routes. In recent times, because of this, people have to
take longer routes to get to their various destinations, which is more costly.
Pirate attacks in modern times do not just affect the International Shipping
industry only it also affects governments and individuals. A proactive action is
needed urgently to eradicate maritime piracy in the world’s oceans.
Forms of Piracy Attacks
There are different core types of piracy attacks. The International Chambers
of Shipping (ICF) states that there are three core types of piracy attacks. They
are, the Low-level armed robbery, medium level-armed assault and robbery
and the Major criminal hijack. Below is a brief discussion about the core forms
of piracy attacks.
 Pirate attacks on ships that are already anchored or preparing to anchor has
been majorly caused by the relaxed security procedures of some ports. Pirates
majorly attack in those ports that their standard of security and safety
measures are not strictly enforced. It is very common in and around countries
like Indonesia. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) sees this type of pirate
attacks as a low – level-armed robbery. They are carried out by pirates on
speedboats armed with knives, guns and small arms, near coastlines11. The
major targets of these pirates are usually cash and portable high- value
11 Nur Jale ECE, The Threat of Modern Day Piracy in Strategic Waters.(January,2009)
http://www.eurasiacritic.com/articles/threat-modern-day-piracy-strategic-waters

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personal items with an average theft of between US$5,000 and US$15,00012.
This might probably have increased.
 Robbery of vessels on the sea, this type of piracy attacks is seen as the most
common type of attack and if it is carried out in the narrow sea lanes, has the
potential to seriously disrupt maritime navigation13. This type of attack is
categorized as a medium-level armed assault and robbery (MLAAR). They are
usually carried out from a “mother ship”. The ultimate goal for robbery at sea is
due to financial reasons. A country like Somalia with a very poor economy, their
only source of making money was to turn into pirates in order to make ends
meet.
 Phantom ship deals with pirates hijacking vessels in order to convert them
for the purpose of illegal trading. They always follow a particular structure.
Vessels are first seized and their cargoes are off-loaded into lighters at sea
(such merchandise either being kept by the pirates themselves or sold off to
private bidders)14. This type of pirate attack can be confirmed on 15th
November 2008, when Somali pirates off the coast of Kenya captured the
“Sirius Star”. The price of the vessel was worth over 150 million dollars and the
value of the oil on board the vessel was worth around 100 million dollars. The
Somali pirates demanded for a ransom of 3 million dollars, which was
parachuted on board after more than two months of negotiations15. This
12 P.Chalk,“Contemporary MaritimePiracy in South East Asia,Studies in Conflictand Terrorism”,
Volume 21, issue1 (1998) pg., 88
13 Ibid
14 Ibid, pg. 89
15 Ndumbe J. Anyu and Samuel Moki, “Africa: the Piracy Hot Spot and Its Implications for Global

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perfectly displays how maritime piracy is affecting the International shipping
industry, which has an adverse effect on the world’s economy. The IMB defines
this type of pirate attack as a Major criminal Hijack (MCHJ).
Pirates’ different forms of attack have made piracy to be linked with other
types of crime. The international community has been drawn to include other
dangerous international crimes such as terrorism and smuggling to piracy. I am
going to compare piracy with acts of terrorism to show how they are linked.
Maritime Piracy and Terrorism
Fighting maritime piracy has proven to be a difficult challenge. One of the
practical problems is the fact that the crime piracy has been linked with other
undesirable international crimes. Piracy is a distinct crime in itself, but it often
involves a complex nexus of other crimes, which are subject to different
jurisdictional and legal rules than piracy.16
I have tried to highlight the differences between piracy and acts of
terrorism. The crime piracy has become very violent in recent times; this is why
the International bodies are tempted to attach it with the act of terrorism in
order for the two crimes to be treated together. Piracy and terrorism are
dangerous international crimes; they have different and overlapping
characteristics. The overlapping characteristics between pirates and terrorists
are;
Security,” Mediterranean Quarterly,vol. 20, no. 3 (Summer 2009): 95–121.
16 E.Andersen, B.B – Hawe, P. Goff, “SuppressingMaritimePiracy:ExploringThe Options in
International Law. http://acuns.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/SuppressingMaritimePiracyExploringOptionsIntlLaw.pdf

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 They both plan their strategies ahead of time and their aim is to attack
innocent civilians
 They both are destructive and violent
 They both threaten lives at sea and affect economical and political
activities.
 They use the same type of weapons to hijack vessels.
According to Major Frederick Chew (in his Article, Piracy, maritime terrorism
and regional interest), he exemplified that there are three major distinctions
between piracy and maritime terrorism they are; ends means and effect. When
it comes to ends, piracy is mostly motivated by financial benefits, while political
reasons motivate terrorism. In terms of means pirates are usually associated
with basic tactics/capabilities.17 On the other hand, terrorists are associated
with complex skills. In terms of effect, piracy has conventionally been limited to
the planned level. Terrorism generally aims at accomplishing a planned result.
In reality, it is quite difficult to differentiate between the two international
crimes.
The ever first act of maritime terrorism was exemplified in the Achille Lauro
case. On October 7 1985, the Achille Lauro an Italian flagship was seized while
sailing from Alexandra to port Said.18 Hijackers on the high sea held the vessel,
the hijackers threatened to kill passengers on board the vessel unless they
released the fifty prisoners. Unfortunately, whilst the hijackers were
threatening to kill passengers on board the vessel, they murdered an American
17 Major Frederick Chew, Piracy,maritimeterrorismand regional interestPG, 75.
18 M.Halberstam, Terrorismon the high seas:The AchilleLauro, Piracy and the IMO Convention on
MaritimeSafety, 82 Am. J. Int’l. & COMP. L. 269 (1988)

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citizen. The hijack was not seen as a piracy attack under the UNCLOS 1982
Article 101, because the hijackers’ motives were for political ends and the two
vessels requirement was not met. Ever since this type of incident occurred on
the ocean, the International community has since been striving to adopt a
series of legal as well as practical measures in order to prevent a recurrence of
such a terrorist act because the rules of International law relating to piracy are
not applicable mutatis mutandis to terrorism.19 The Suppression of Unlawful
Act against the safety of maritime navigation was adopted in 1988; this
convention was established in order to address the issue of maritime terrorism.
The root cause of Piracy
Why do people become pirates? In my opinion, I feel people become pirates due
to the harsh living conditions they encounter. According to Wilson he stated that
piracy occurs in countries where there is poverty, connected with a weak
government. Looking at a country like Somalia, their people turn into pirates due to
the low standard of living in Somalia and other factors. If the International
community really wants to fight piracy, I believe they need to start from tackling the
root problems. The International communities are not addressing the reasons why
young men are prepared to risk their lives chasing ships around the ocean.20 They are
mainly concentrating on the signs or symptoms of piracy. My main focus here will be
19 H. Tuerk, Combating Terrorismat Sea – The Suppression of Unlawful Acts againstthe Safety of
MaritimeNavigation”, University of Miami International & Comparative Law Review, Volume 15,
Issue3 (2008) pg,
20
R. Middleton, Piracy symptoms of bigger problems (April 15th 2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8001183.stm

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on Somali pirates, because as we can see in recent times they are the ones that are
causing a lot of problems on the world ocean maritime routes. Somalia is called the
new paradise for pirates in the Modern age.21 The Somali pirates have created a lot
of media attention in recent times.
Somalia, a failed state – The root cause of Somali pirates
In recent times when most people hear the word “pirates”, the first thing
that comes to mind is the Somalis, why is that? There have been various issues
that have contributed to the upsurge and continuation of piracy in Somalia. The
numerous problems of Somalia started in the early 1990’s when a civil war broke
out. The factors are; a failed government, low level of income, employment rate
is low, illegal fishing and dumping, Drought and Famine. The major hitch is due to
the lack of government in Somalia. The governments cannot meet the essential
necessities of the people. While monetary gain appears to be the primary motive,
observers argue that since the conditions in Somalia are dire, with little to no hope
for prosperity, engagement in piracy is worth the risk.22
The low level of political authority to offer safety for its people and borders
resulted to foreigners coming to the Somalia waters to dump toxic wastes and to
fish illegally. It was estimated in 2006 that yearly about 700 international vessels
illegally plunder the waters of Somalia. Somali fishermen decided to look for ways
to protect its water and look for ways to make money. As a result of this the
21
Muhammad Tahir Hanif,Sea Piracy and the Law of the Sea (Master thesis,31st August 2010) PG,
15.
22
L. Ploch,"Piracy off the Horn of Africa," Congressional Research Service (April 24, 2009),6.

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fishermen then up-scaled their protection and the cycle continued and thus the
war began and over the years it has developed into what we now call Somalia’s
piracy problem.23 The National states that are trying to fight maritime piracy
seem to be the cause of why maritime piracy came into existence in Somalia. The
fishing illegally and dumping of toxic waste into Somali waters together with the
failed government caused maritime piracy in Somali. Ever since piracy started in
Somalia it has not ceased because the Somali pirates are gaining enough monetary
benefits (it is estimated that pirates in 2008 earn between 150 million dollars and
300 million dollars through hostage taking and ransoming vessels and cargo)24.
This was about four years ago, I am sure it has increased.
The adverse effect these pirates continue to have on the International
shipping industry and private individuals is grave. The United Nations has passed
different resolutions in order to fight maritime piracy off the shores of Somalia,
but they seem to be of little help. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
passed the following resolutions in 2008; 1816, 1838, 1846 and 1851. These
resolutions were passed in order for different national states to cooperate
together to use all possible means to fight maritime piracy off the coast of
Somalia. These resolution mirrors Article 100 of the United Nations Law of the Sea
Convention 1982. The EU and NATO also assisted to try and combat maritime
piracy off the coast of Somalia. The European Union community was of great
assistance they created the Operation Atlanta to help solve the maritime piracy in
23
M.A.Waldo, The Two Piraciesin the World:Why the world ignores the others?
http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09/Jan/Waldo/08_The_two_piracies_in_Somalia.html
(January 8th 2009).
24 Krasha and Wilson,“Co-operativeStrategy and the Pirates of Gulf of Aden”, Pg. 76.

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Somalia. Operation Atlanta was launched in December 2008, their budget was 8
million Euros’ a year and also provided 7 Naval ships. They assisted in providing
escort to the World Food Program that was delivering basic needs to the Somali
people. The Operation allied provider initiative was started by NATO to render
the same function as the Operation Atlanta. These two initiatives were of little
success in helping to safely deliver humanitarian aid to the Somali people. By
2009 the NATO organization launched another initiative this was the Operation
allied protector. I am going to be discussing about these resolutions and Naval
operations in depth in the latterpart of this paper.
The Prime Minister of Somalia, Omar Abdiweli Mohamed Ali contended
that “You cannot tackle piracy from the sea no matter how many naval ships you
put into the water…. the best way to actually fight the piracy is tackle on the
land”25 This actually says a lot, I am in support of that motion too. Putting naval
vessels on water will probably just have little help in fighting piracy in Somalia. The
major way of eradicating piracy in Somalia should start from the land, that is to say
help the government of Somalia to become stable and provide humanitarian
assistance to the people of Somalia. A stable government can be illustrated when
the Islamic Courts Union in the second half of 2006 ruled for six months.26 During
this period piracy practically disappeared around Somalia. Meaning a stable and
functioning government can help to control piracy in Somalia.
25 D.Voyloshnikova,“Piracy (Operation Policy Committee)”. Model NATO Youth Summit, Brussels
(2012) http://www.natoyouthsummit.org/documents/OPC%20-%20Topic%201.pdf
26 R. Middleton, Piracy in Somalia ThreateningGlobal Trade,Feeding Local Wars (October,2008)
www.chatamhouse.org.uk

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The Impact of Maritime Piracy
Maritime piracy imposes direct costs on humanitarian assistance (WFP)
and has an impact on maritime economics activities such as oil production and
cost of energy, insurance and shipping costs, tourism and fishing.27 Piracy over the
years has continued to have an adverse effect on the International shipping
industry and if it is not eradicated it will continue to affect the shipping industry.
Piracy has a direct economic impact in terms of fraud, stolen cargoes and
delayed trips and could undermine a maritime state’s trading ability28. Annually
pirates cost the International shipping industry nothing less than billions of
dollars (estimated between $1 billion and $16 billion). In this thesis my focal
point is on how maritime piracy affects the International shipping industry. I am
going to be discussing on the various ways piracy affects the international shipping
industry.
How Maritime Piracy affects the International Shipping industries
Re-Routing
Pirates often operate in Major maritime routes, because of the everyday usage of
those particular waters by maritime traders. Most ships (especially the “Low and
Slow” vessel, which are major targets for pirates) are eschewing the Suez Canal,
Gulf of Aden, and South East Asia maritime routes because of the risk of piracy
attacks. As a result of ships avoiding these maritime routes, they have to take
lengthier route like detouring around the Cape of Good Hope. This is not appealing
to the International Shipping industry. The Denmark shipping company, AP Moller
27 K.K Mbekeani and M. Ncube, Economic Impact on MaritimePiracy.(Volume 2, Issue10) pg5
http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/Maritime%20Piracy_Mariti
me%20Piracy.pdf
28 Chalk,Peter. Maritime Piracy: Reasons, Dangers and Solutions. Congressional testimony.Santa
Monica,CA: RAND National Defense Research Institute, 2009.
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA493656

24
– Maersk one of the biggest shipping lines in Europe had to divert all its eighty
three tankers to follow the Cape of Good Hope.
Rerouting vessels to follow longer routes is an extra cost for shipping
industries. Like for example, routing a tanker from Saudi Arabia to the United
States via the Cape of Good Hope, adds about 2,700 miles to the voyage.29 This
Longer distance will increase the annual operating costs of the vessel by reducing
the delivery capacity for the ship from about six round-trip voyages to five voyages
or a drop of about twenty six percent.30 It also takes longer days for ships to get to
their various destinations when trying to avoid pirates. Journeys that are meant to
last for fifteen days will last for thirty days. Cargoes that carry perishable foods
(short life span, like tomato) will be mostly affected by longer days. A company
whose cargo is prevented from reaching its destination on time will lose
money.31The cost of fuel will also be high, because for longer voyage more fuel is
consumed. Extra costs for the shipping industry have made the cost of maritime
transport even more expensive. Last year, it was estimated that the excess cost of
re-routing these ships was estimated to be between $24 billion dollars and $3
billion dollars per year32. In 2011 Re routing of vessels cost the shipping industry
$486 million to $680 million.
Insurance premium costs
There are certain maritime areas that insurance cost is high due to piracy attacks
been on the high side. The ships that continuously pass the Suez Canal and Gulf of
Aden have to buy the war risk insurance coverage, which means extra cost. In May
2008, the Lloyd’s Market Association Joint has categorized the Gulf of Aden as a
war risk zone since then the cost of war risk premium has escalated. Earlier in
2006, an important maritime route the Malacca strait was categorized as a war
29 MARAD, “ Economic Impact of Piracy in the Gulf of Aden on Global Trade” November 2008.
30 Ibid
www.chatamhouse.org.uk
32 MaritimePiracy costs global community up to 12 Billion dollarsa year (January 20th 2011).
http://www.eft.com/freight-transport/maritime-piracy-costs-global-community-12-billion-year

25
risk zone. Last year Insurance companies added the larger Indian Ocean as a “war
–risk zone”.
A pirate often kidnaps crew and passengers alongside their property and
vessel and keeps them as hostages. In order for these people to be released a
certain amount has to be paid (this is called ransom). The Kidnap and Ransom
insurance (K and R) only covers crew and passengers in order to avoid paying
ransoms. The K& R insurance did not initially cover property, but because of
pirates’ attacks, some marine policies have recently expanded it to include both
crew and property. 33 Some Insurance companies that provide the K & R insurance
also cover the hiring loss from the time a ship was seized by pirates this incurs
extra cost.
The tremendous rise in pirate attacks in some maritime routes have made
the price of cargo insurance that covers goods on board a vessel to increase by
between $25 and $100 per container in the past few years.34 Traditionally, Marine
Hull Insurance, purchased by ship owners from internationally registered
Protection and Indemnity (P & I) Clubs or International Underwriters, covers loss
at sea, including sinking, piracy or any other physical damage to the vessel35.
Basically, the Marine hull insurance covers vessels that are physically damaged.
Pirate attacks have made the cost of hull insurance to increase by double fold.
In 2011 it was estimated that the Insurance Company spent about $ 635 million.
Ransom Cost
The crew, Passengers and cargo that are held as hostages can only be released
when a certain amount of ransom is paid to pirates. The process of negotiating
33 A.Bowden, The Economic Cost of MaritimePiracy (December 2010) Pg, 11
http://oneearthfuture.org/images/imagefiles/Cost%20of%20Piracy%20Final%20Report.pdf
34Ibid pg, 11
35 Cape Business News, Our exposure to the Risk of Piracy (August16th 2010)
http://www.cbn.co.za/index.php?Page=daily&daily_id=4868

26
and delivering the money can be a complex task for ship owners and insurance
companies. The way to bring the money to pirates is also another complicated
task. As a result of the complexity, ship owners are most times forced to employ
naval securities to deliver the ransom to pirates. Employing securities cost a huge
sum of money another extra cost incurred that is. Huge amounts have been paid
to pirates, like for example, in November 2010, $9.5 million had to be paid to the
Somali pirates in order for them to release the Samho Dream this vessel was
carrying crude oil worth $170 million (105 million pounds) from Iraq to United
States of America.36 Trends have shown that pirates keep increasing their ransom.
In 2011, the standard ransom payment increased from about $4 million in 2010 to
$5 million. The total cost of ransom estimated to be around double the value
actually paid to pirates.37 The reasons for this are the factors that I have
mentioned earlier like, the costs incurred during negotiation of the ransom price,
cost for private planes and naval securities. In the year 2012, so far about $29.2
million in total has been paid to Somali pirates. What a big loss for the
International shipping industry.
36 BBC News, Somali Pirates received record ransomfor ship release(November 6th 2010)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11704306
37 A.Bowden, The Economic Cost of Maritime Piracy (December 2010) Pg, 9
http://oneearthfuture.org/images/imagefiles/Cost%20of%20Piracy%20Final%20Report.pdf

27
Below is a bar chart illustrating the total annual ransom paid to pirates from year 2007 to 2011.
Source: International Maritime Bureau, November 8th 2011.
The idea of paying pirates money seems to be boosting these pirates to
even ask for more and attack more (this can be illustrated from the bar chart
above). Some maritime industry experts consider that paying pirates’ ransom
intensifies piracy complications. On the other hand, ship owners cannot do much
to save the lives of people held in hostage and their vessels that are probably even
more expensive than the pirates’ ransom. I believe this is one of the reasons why
it is hard to fight maritime piracy, because paying huge amount of money to
pirates can be seen as a way of encouraging pirates to keep attacking ships.
Maritime environment disaster
Piracy attack on a vessel carrying any form of oil or chemical substance can cause
marine pollution. They are the most attacked by pirates. Large oil tankers pass
through the Gulf of Aden and the danger exists that a pirate attack could cause a

28
major oil spill in what is a very sensitive and important ecosystem38 with reference
to the vessel (TAKAYAMA) that was attacked by pirates on the Gulf of Aden in
2008 the pirates lanced the vessel’s tank, which resulted in an oil spillage. A vessel
whilst trying to escape from pirates can ground. Oil spillage in the ocean causes
disaster to the marine environment, like killing marine animals. In recent times we
can see that the pirates are very well equipped as a result of this, pirates can shoot
grenades at a vessel or cargo, which can also result to damaging the marine
environment.
Effect on International Trade
National states are greatly reliant on International maritime trade. In 2010, the
secretary general of the UN, Ban –Ki Moon reported that; “Piracy.. has had an
immense impact on the economies of East Africa and also the wider world….
International trade routes are threatened and goods in the region as well as
Somalia are becoming expensive. This is made worse by the bleak state of the
global economy”.39It is estimated that about 80% of the world’s freight is
transported via the sea. Traders nowadays fear to transport their goods via the
sea, because pirates can make their cargoes sink, cargoes been burnt and held
hostage for several months. It is valued that beyond 10 percent of the seaborne
oil passes the Gulf of Aden and Suez Canal route (Pirate attacks are usually high at
this zone). The continuous attacks on vessel’s carrying oil have made countries
Pg 9 www.chatamhouse.org.uk
39 Ban Ki-Moon shuffles statisticslikea word classflake(November 5 2010)
http://www.odin.tc/eng/articles/835-Ban-Ki-moon-shuffles-statistics-like-a-world-class-flake.asp

29
like Nigeria to reduce its oil production. In Nigeria it was estimated that oil
production dropped by 20 percent since 2006 costing the Nigeria economy $202
million between 2006 and 2008.40 It is estimated that International traders lose
more than hundreds or millions of dollars due to piracy attacks on cargoes.
There are other sectors that are affected by piracy attacks. The Fishing
industry is affected because of the fear of pirates attacking them whilst trying to
catch fish on the ocean. Some countries like, Seychelles, Nigeria and Yemen have
proven that declines in the fishing industry have affected their countries economy.
Piracy is also plaguing the Tourism sector. Piracy has a direct economic impact in
terms of fraud, stolen cargoes and delayed trips and could undermine a maritime
state’s trading ability. Piracy is really causing a lot of hazards to the sea either
directly or indirectly; therefore it needs to be eradicated on time. Fighting of
maritime piracy has not been easy there have been different challenges faced by
International bodies and countries as a result of this it has been quite hard to fight
piracy. The challenges are mostly related with costs, jurisdictional problems, and
right of the accused and use of private contractors. I am going to discuss about the
various challenges faced with fighting piracy in the next chapter.
Legal and Practical problems faced in combating maritime
piracy
There are problems faced by International bodies and National states in
40 G. Akinsanmi,Nigeria:nation loses N25bn to piracy,sea robberies,Allafrica.com,
http://allafrica.com

30
trying to fight maritime piracy. These problems are mostly related to legal and
practical issues. The cost of fighting maritime piracy is expensive. The following
problems are discussed below.
The cost of security equipment and the use of private armed guard (Private
Military Contractors) to fight maritime piracy
Ship owners might also try to protect their vessels from piracy attacks by
providing their ships with security equipment or employ private armed guards to
escort their vessel or stay on board the vessel when transiting in pirate hotspots.
The equipment’s needed to fight pirates are not easily accessible. The cost of
security equipment to deter maritime piracy is expensive. The aggregate cost of
security equipment and guards deployed on vessel in the region is said to be a
substantial cost to the industry in 2011.41 The rate at which technology is
advancing, the cost of security equipment is expected to even increase.
In regards to the use of private armed guards (Private Military
Contractors), the cost for employing private armed guards on board a vessel is
costly too. With the increase in attack of pirates there are still continuous debates
among shipping companies whether it is suitable and reasonable to arm their
vessels or employ private security companies for protecting vessels. There are
different views as to the use of armed forces on board a vessel. The view about
armed forces to protect vessels depends firstly on the flag state. The person’s
nationality law view is concerned secondly and finally, the prerequisite of each
41 One Earth Future Foundation,“The Economic Cost of Somali Piracy in 2011”, pg. 17
http://oceansbeyondpiracy.org/sites/default/files/economic_cost_of_piracy_2011.pdf

31
ports visited is also put into consideration. Initially, the United Kingdom endorsed
the view of the shipping industries, The International Maritime organization (IMO)
and the government views that private security guards should not be placed on
commercial shipping as this would increase the risks to which the ships and crew
were subject.42 The particular issue raised in regards to employing private armed
guards was that it is legally complicated as numerous jurisdictions are involved in
it.
The usage of armed guards and security equipment on board a civilian vessel can
pose serious risks because of the liability, legality and the threat it can cause to
security of lives on board a vessel. Armed guards trying to defend their vessel by
using firearms to shoot pirates can lead to violence. It is simple to use private
armed guards but the legal structure attached to it is not. Nevertheless, there are
certain advantages of having private armed guards on board a vessel because in
reality it can be seen that most vessels with private armed guards are hardly
attacked by pirates. Last year (October 30th 2011), the United Kingdom
government revised its policy to permit ships that are registered in the UK to carry
private armed guards after realizing the deterrence effect it has. It is only certain
vessels that are allowed to carry private armed guards; they are vessels passing
pirate’s hotspot and vessel carrying over a definite tonnage. The Lloyd’s market
association was displeased with two things with the policy. They are, the exclusion
of vessels under 500 gross tonnage and the provision that arms can only be carried
42Turning the Tide on Piracy,BuildingSomalia’s future:Follow – up Report on the EU’s Operation
Atlanta and Beyond
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldeucom/43/4304.htm

32
in the high risk area, which presented legal complications on weapon sourcing and
access43and also it been unfeasible in the mid ocean, because of its restriction to
only pirates’ hotspots.
British companies are mostly the ones that provide private armed security,
because most of the third world countries do not accept the view of armed guards
on board a vessel. Countries like Greece, Japan and United States of America are
just recently trying to adjust these stern laws to permit private armed guards on
board a vessel.
The hiring of private armed guards to capture pirates creates certain legal
issues; like for example the 1958 Geneva Convention on high seas Article 21
provides that “a seizure on an account of piracy may only be carried out by
warships or military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft on government authorize to
that effect”. This simply purports that only certain categories (restricted to
government vessels) of vessels can capture pirates. Under the United Nations Law
of the Sea Convention article 107 (UNESCO) defines warships (That is to say,
Government authorized vessels that can capture pirates) as vessels owned by the
government, commanded by a government official and operated by crew under
ordered armed forces regulation. The strict rules required by the law of the sea on
warships exclude from the outset that PMSC ships could be defined as warships
and thus entitled to engage in pirate hunting, unless contractors are incorporated
43 Turningthe Tide on Piracy,BuildingSomalia’s future:Follow – up Report on the EU’s Operation
Atlanta and Beyond
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldselect/ldeucom/43/4304.htm

33
in the armed forces of the state.44 The use of private armed guards has not
conceded the test of international practice. For illustration, the right to visit a
vessel that is suspected to be a pirate vessel; third state might not want to allow a
vessel that is controlled by a private military contractor to board its vessel.
Private security companies do not have an official position under
international law therefore; they suffer from a lack of legal certainty about their
activities45.
The use of force by private armed guards can cause a risk of marine pollution
threat. For example, private armed guards exchanging gunshots with pirates can
cause a ship to sink, catch fire or bullet destroying a tanker of oil, which
automatically leads to an oil spillage.
The aim of private armed guards is to protect vessels but at the same time they
may be seen as a risk to the protection and safety of people on board a vessel or
at sea, the prevalent risk of escalation into a firefight may make this a high risk for
shipping industry to actually want to employ private armed guards.
44 Francesco Francioni and Natalino Ronzitti,War by Contract: Human Rights,Humanitarian Law
and Private Contractors.(Oxford Scholarship online,May 2011)
45 Chatham House, “Piracy and Legal issues: Reconciling Public and Private Interests”, African
Programme and International LawConference Report (2009)

34
Pressure for new rules has come in part from human right consideration46.
Everyone should enjoy the Right to life, but unfortunately private armed guards
have killed quite a number of pirates at sea thus, breaching the human right laws.
Private armed guards have also killed some fisherman, because they were
mistaking as pirates. A private armed guard company (Academi) was sued in Iraq
after shooting 17 civilians.
The use of private armed guards can actually help to deter piracy, but at
the same time it can have some adverse effect as I have already mentioned
earlier. There have been debates about whether hiring of private armed guards
on merchant vessels are desirable. In my opinion, I believe that hiring of private
armed guards is helpful to some extent because by statistics it can be illustrated
that pirates have not attacked most merchant vessels with private armed guards
and violence has not increased. In feel private armed guards should generally be
acceptable internationally but they should be regulated properly. The armed
guards should be highly skilled in order to avoid attacking innocent civilians at sea.
The problems of detaining and prosecuting pirates
Pirates are frequently released when navies capture them47. There is no effective
system for prosecuting pirates. There are various issues in regards to prosecuting
pirates. Piracy is a universal crime, thus there is no need for a nexus between any
46 The Economist, Piracy and PrivateSecurity Laws and Guns Armed Guards on ships deter pirates .
But who says they are legal? http://www.economist.com/node/21552553
47 Piracy and Legal issues:Reconcilingprivateand public interests.Africa programme and
International LawConference Report (Chatham House, October 1st 2009). “it is an unfortunate
fact that 50 – 60 percent of captured pirates havebeen released by the navies which capture
them”.

35
of these interests and the country, which mounts the prosecution: under
international law all states have the power to try pirates in their courts48.
Unfortunately, most state’s domestic laws are not capable enough to deal with
pirate prosecution that is the reason why most pirates when they are either
released or sent to another national state to be prosecuted after they are
captured. Pirate transfer can also pose a problem, because while waiting to
transfer these pirates they probably would have destroyed evidence that needs to
be used against them in court.
Somali pirates are mostly transferred to Kenya when they are captured
because it is the only country in that region that has the little capacity to deal with
pirates’ prosecution. Kenya even lacks some legal needs for example there are a
lot of interruptions and complications during court proceedings, during the trial
interview, the court sometimes lacks interpreter for the pirates (there is an
essential need for fair trial), they also do not offer defendants with legal
assistance unless they committed an act of murder and finally, the prison in
Kenya is congested. Kenya’s judicial system needs a lot of support from
International bodies and National states in order to develop the legal institution to
a place that will deal with Somali pirates adequately if not Kenya might say,
“Enough is enough”49. Some countries are scared to even prosecute pirates in its
court, because of the fear of pirates wanting to seek for an asylum in its country
after concluding a prison term.
48 Ibid, pg. 7
49 Kenya Attorney General stated that “if the International Community does not step up in its
assistance, then sooner rather than later Kenya might say enough is enough” (on September 12th
2009)

36
No creation of an International Court todeal with Pirates
Piracy is an International crime, which I feel should have its own International
court or any tribunal to hear piracy cases. There have been different suggestions
by national state that an International Court should be created to deal with
pirates, because most national courts are not capable in dealing with pirates. The
request of creating an International court to deal with pirates was rejected,
because it is assumed that it will be costly and consume a lot of time to create. I
believe having an International court can really help with prosecuting of pirates,
because there will be a highly specialized body to deal with pirates. Nevertheless,
it does not mean that providing an International court will resolve the issues of
where to imprison a pirate when convicted.
Human Right Law and Piracy
There are certain fundamental human rights that every individual must enjoy.
Pirates should also enjoy such human rights. When pirates are captured, they
must be treated fairly and respectably in accordance with the International Human
rights law. When pirates are captured, they must be brought quickly before a
judge, Fair trial, transferring pirates to a country that applies the death penalty
must be avoided at all cost and they must not be detained for a long period of
time.
The European Convention of Human rights have enacted a number of
requirements regarding the way pirates should be treated. The Naval vessels
patrolling the high seas owned by some European States have to follow the ECHR
requirements, even though they are performing under the power of the Security

37
Council Resolution. European Naval when they capture pirates they must first
consider two things, The Right to Liberty and Security and free trial (Article 5 of
the ECHR). In regards to right to liberty (Article 5 of the ECHR) and security the
pirates must not be detained for a long period of time, they must be arranged in
front of a judge promptly. With reference to the European case, Medveydev50 the
International court dismissed their claims, as it was not brought promptly before a
judicial power. The pirates were held for 13 days, which was a breach of their
human right (Article 5). Secondly, if a flag state cannot or do not desire to use its
‘jurisdiction’ they can transfer the pirates to a member state or any third party
that desires to exercise its jurisdiction over the person arrested. During the
process of transferring pirates to a third state for prosecution they must make
sure the third state acts in a way that is coherent with the International human
right laws, that is to say the pirates should not be treated in an inhuman or
degrading way and also should not be imperiled to a death penalty. This type of
issue of a flag state, transferring pirates to a third state can be illustrated in a
Danish case51. The Danish Naval could not transfer these criminals (10) to a third
party country (Somalia), because they felt that the pirates would be treated in an
inhuman and degrading manner and also would be subjected to a death sentence.
This was unacceptable, as Danish law prohibits the extradition of criminals when
they may face the death penalty52. This just indicates that human right laws prevail
50 A French naval vessel captured a Cambodian-flagged vessel suspected of drug runningand
escorted it to Brest where proceedings were instigated.
51 A Danish naval vessel called the Absalon on September 17th 2008 captured some Somali pirates,
but released them after six days of detention.
52 T.Treves, Piracy,Law of the sea, and use of force: developments off the coastof Somalia.

38
over considerations concerning the fight against piracy.
I believe sentencing pirates is a good way to deter piracy, because these
pirates would want to avoid spending their lives in jail when caught.
Unfortunately, the Human Right considerations can sometimes be a hindrance to
prosecuting pirates. 60 percent of times when pirates are caught they simply just
disarm them and release them afterwards, due to human right considerations and
other issues. In Britain, the British Foreign Office reportedly warned the Royal
Navy against detaining pirates since this might violate their human rights and
could lead to claims to asylum in Britain.53 Nations wants the issue of piracy to be
eradicated at the same time its laws are hindering the considerations concerning
the fight against piracy. This leaves me with this question, what is the point of
capturing pirates when they are going to be released afterwards?
Paying of ransom issues
The large amount of money paid to pirates by ship owners and insurance
companies’ boosts piracy. When pirates see that they are making huge sum of
money in attacking civilian vessels they obviously would not want to stop. If
shipping companies stop paying these pirates huge sum of money, the incentives
to be involved in piracy would reduce.54 On the other hand, I don’t blame ship
owners for paying pirates ransom because lives of people on board are in danger
53 Rivkin Jr.and Casey, ‘Pirates ExploitConfusion aboutInternational Law’, Wall Street Journal, 19
Nov. 2008.
54 R. Middleton. “ Piracy in Somalia Threatening global trade, feeding local wars” Chatham House
Briefingpaper (October, 2008) pg. 11

39
and sometimes the value of the ship held by the pirates is higher than the ransom
money. In the news recently, Somali pirates killed a hostage over delay in
payment of ransom. Believed to be the first time pirates have killed a hostage
because of delay in ransom.55 The issue of paying ransom to pirates is complicated
not paying them can endanger human lives held by pirates at the same time
escalate piracy attacks what a deadlock situation.
The Flaws of the UNCLOS 1982
The first issue I will highlight is defining what piracy is. The present definition of
piracy is seen as an insufficient tool for policy makers to deal with maritime piracy.
Article 101 of the United Nation Law of the Sea Convention 1982 defines piracy as;
(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed
for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private
aircraft, and directed:  (i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or
against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;  (ii) against a ship,
aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any state.
The definition of piracy is limited the act of piracy to only be on the high
seas or beyond any state’s jurisdiction (jurisdictional problem). Most pirate attacks
occur majorly in a state jurisdiction (that is to say, territorial waters and internal
waters). For example, if a pirate attacks another vessel within a state’s territorial
water, it would not be considered as piracy. What happens to such attacks,
because they are outside the scope of piracy definition? These types of act are
55 Abdi Guled, Somali Pirateskill Hostage Over delayed ransom(September, 1st 2012)
http://news.yahoo.com/somali-pirates-kill-hostage-over-delayed-ransom-162854547.html

40
frequently called “armed robbery at sea”. Secondly there is a two vessel
requirement (attacking a vessel from another vessel). Involvement of two ships,
such as, for instance, the violent taking of control of a ship by members of its crew
or passengers, even when the follow up consists of holding to ransom the ship and
its crew and passengers, are not included.56
This acts can be illustrated in the
Achille Lauro in 1985 and Santa Maria in 1981, which both were not considered to
be an act of piracy. The Achille lauro incident leads me to the issue relating to
private ends. Article 101 requires that pirate attack must be for private ends. The
Achille Lauro was not also seen as a piracy attack, because it was for a political
end. Another issue I can point out with the definition is that the article does not
give much as to the meaning of what Illegal acts of violence or detention consist
of. Different states will probably have their own views as to what is illegal and
not. There are no international bodies available to even help to explain whether
an act is illegal or not. Also article 101 does not state the types of violence which
constitute piracy.57
The definition of piracy can be said not to be clear and wide. Over the
years some incident that appears to be piracy are considered not to be piracy,
because one element or more in the definition is missing. The law that is meant to
even be the one addressing the issue of piracy seems inadequate to deal with the
maritime crime.
Asides the problems found in the definition of piracy, there are also some other
56 T.Treves, Piracy,Law of the sea, and use of force: developments off the coastof Somalia.
57 Y.Tanaka, The International Law of The Sea, 1st edition (Cambridge University Press,2012).Pg,
355.

41
issues, which are as follows below.
Article 100; All states are given the duty to cooperate fully in the same manner in
order to repress piracy. How are we sure they are actually cooperating in the same
manner as the convention has stated when there is no International body acting as
a check and balance?
Article 105; Seizure of a pirate ship or aircraft. This Article states that on the high
seas or beyond any state’s jurisdiction any state may seize a pirate ship or a ship
taken by piracy and under the control of pirates and arrest the persons. First issue
here is that the convention used the word “may” this will imply that it is not
compulsory for a state to actually seize a pirate ship. It is more of a voluntary
power that is to say, is a matter of if they want to or not. There is no guarantee
that actions against pirates will be effectively taken.58 Most states are even not
keen to seize pirate’s vessels; because most states do not have adequate domestic
laws and courts to try pirates also it is costly. States also fear to seize vessels that
are assumable controlled by pirates, because if one of the strict elements in Article
101 is missing they will incur liability for seizure for inadequate grounds 59. The rule
in Article 105, does not also establish the exclusive jurisdiction of the seizing
state’s court60. The article has provided states with the ability to seize pirates, but
on the other hand these states are scared to, because of some of the convention’s
provisions.
58 T.Treves, “Piracy,Law of the sea,and Use of Force: Development off the Coastof Somali (2009)
20. EJIL p.402.
59 Article106 of the United Nation Law of The Sea Convention 1982.
60 T.Treves, “Piracy,Law of the sea, and Use of Force: Development off the Coastof Somali (2009)
20. EJIL pg, 2

42
Article 107; The article states that only some category of vessels (warships, naval
ships and any other government authorized vessel) are actually allowed to board
and seize a pirate vessel on the high sea. Basically means private armed guards
are not provided with the power to actually board or seize a pirate vessel. I have
explained this under the use of private armed guards above.
The UNCLOS 1982 has a lot of loopholes in regards to piracy. There is
confusion and uncertainty in the convention, which needs to be amended in order
to get a better solution in fighting maritime piracy. The jurisdictional problem, the
two-vessel requirement and private end requirement all need checks and
balances. The continuous escalation of pirate attacks in recent times has been a
wide opener. It allowed international bodies and national states to see that the
UNCLOS 1982 is not sufficient enough to deter maritime piracy, therefore the
United Security Council has provided series of resolution in order to fill in the gaps
or vacuum of the UNCLOS 1982 and also the creation of a new convention (SUA
Convention, 2005) regional regulations has also been created to deal with piracy. I
am going to discuss more about these resolutions below, when talking about
counter piracy operations.

43
Recent Counter Piracy Operations
United Nation Security Council Security Resolutions; fills in the gaps of
International laws on piracy?
I have highlighted some of this resolution in the earlier part of this paper
when talking about the Somali pirates, but in this part of the paper I am going to
be discussing it in depth.
The United Nation Security Councils have provided some series of
resolutions in order to deal with maritime piracy adequately and also tries to fill in
those missing gaps in International laws dealing with piracy. On the 2nd of June
2008, Resolution 1816 was created, which was followed subsequently by other
resolutions (the 1838,1844, 1846, 1851, 1838,1844 Resolution, which were all
created in 2008). The reasons for these Resolutions were to deal with the
disturbing piracy situation off the coast of Somalia. It tries to remedy the
limitations of the rules in International law. The 1838 resolution urged all nations
to use “the necessary means, in conformity with International law” for the
repression of act of piracy61.
These resolutions created by the Security Council did not give a definition
as to what “piracy” is unlike the UNCLOS 1982, which provides strict requirements
that needs to be carried out before it can be called an act of piracy. The security
resolutions also mentioned armed robbery alongside piracy. The word “armed
robbery” is not defined also. The positive thing about joining piracy alongside
61 Somalia theGulf of Aden, and Piracy:An Overview and recent developments (September 2012)
briefings/somalia,-the-gulf-of-aden,-and-piracy-an-overview,-and-recent-developments

44
armed robbery is that in the IMO framework it is occasionally used to describe all
the acts of attack or violence, which are similar to act of piracy that falls short of
the convention’s definition of piracy. The introduction of armed robbery alongside
piracy is to include all acts related with piracy. Armed robbery at sea is said to be
criminal activities that occur in a state’s jurisdiction. Therefore, the 1816
resolution under chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter stated that all states that
are cooperating in the fight against piracy and armed robbery at sea might:
(1) Enter the territorial waters of Somalia for the purpose of repressing acts of
piracy and armed robbery at sea, in a manner consistent with such action
permitted on the high seas with respect to piracy under relevant
international law; and
(2) Use, within the territorial waters of Somalia, in a manner consistent with
action permitted on the high seas with respect to piracy under relevant
international law, all necessary means to repress acts of piracy and armed
robbery.
The main influence of these provisions above is to make those rules that are
dealing with piracy in the high seas applicable in a state’s jurisdiction, inter alia
permitting pursuit from the high seas into these waters, and clarifying that states
acting under these rules within the territorial waters of Somalia may use ‘all
necessary means’62.
The problem with the 1816 Resolution is that it limits the scope to only
62 T.Treves, “Piracy,Law of the sea,and Use of Force: Development off the Coastof Somali (2009)
20. EJIL pg,

45
Somalia ‘the authorization provided in this resolution applies only with respect to
the situation in Somalia’. This indicates that the permission to enter a territorial
state won’t apply to other state’s territory asides Somalia. There are other
limitations, which I will be highlighting in my conclusion.
The SUA Convention
The 1988 SUA convention was established as a result of the Achille Lauro
event, which came into force in 1992. It was majorly established to deal with
issues of prosecuting maritime violence that does not fall among the piracy
context in UNCLOS. It also was created to implement deterrence adequately
against any person committing an unlawful crime against a vessel. Finally, it tries
to fill those missing gaps and remove those issues mentioned earlier in Article 101.
The SUA convention gives a clear definition of piracy under Article 3. It
defined piracy as “an offense where a person unlawfully and intentionally seizes or
exercises control over a ship, performs an act of violence against a person on board
a ship, destroys a ship or causes damage to a ship or to its cargo, also including
destruction or damage to navigational facilities, or threatens to do so63” in this
definition we can clearly realize that there are no limitations compare to the
UNCLOS 101. It does not limit acts of violence to only a certain jurisdiction. There
is no need for “private ends” requirement. It also covers a criminal action that
occurs in state territorial waters.64 Nevertheless, it has been argued that the SUA
63 Article 3 of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation
Convention 1988.
64 Article 4 of the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation
Convention 1988. Navigating or [...] scheduled to navigate into, through, or from waters beyond
the outer limit of the territorial sea of a single state, or [beyond] the lateral limits of its territorial

46
1988 is more reactive rather than preventive and it also possesses other legal
issues, that is why it is amended by the two 2005 SUA Protocols.
The relevant International legal instrument against terrorism as well as
UNCLOS and the Customary International Law of the Sea sets the legal framework
of the 2005 SUA Protocols. Bring in Customary International Law is a wise means
to make the SUA Convention applicable to a Non state party. The major changes to
the previous convention are in Article 3 (1a). It failed to give a compound
definition of modern day piracy and interpreting it is also a problem, which creates
legal complications.
In my opinion both the SUA Convention 1988 and 2005 protocol will have
minute impact on fighting maritime piracy, because I see it as reactive rather than
preventive. It is more of a deterrence regulation.
Naval actions to fight maritime pirates
The Combined Task force 150 was one of the early naval actions created in order
to fight maritime crimes at sea. The CTF comprises vessels of UK, USA, Germany
and other national state in the Gulf of Aden; its major aim was to secure the Gulf
of Aden and other world ocean. The issue with the CTF 150 is that is major target
were on maritime terrorist and not piracy.
The EU NAVFOR Counter Piracy Operation- Operation AtlantaInitiative
In response to the increase of pirate attacks in the Western Indian Ocean, the
sea with adjacentstates [...] or [when] the alleged offender is found in the territory of a sta te party

47
European Union decided to launch the Operation Atlanta in December 2008. Its
main motives were to protect the World Food Programme vessels delivering food
to Somalia. Deterring, preventing acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast
of Somalia. Protecting ships and monitors daily activities that occur off the coast
of Somalia such as fishing.
Political guidance, staff and assets are provided by the EU Member States,
with a common budget of 8.6 million Euros for the year 2012.65 It provided seven
warships to patrol the Gulf of Aden, Western Indian Ocean and South of the Red
sea. The current mandate was renewed on 23 March 2012 and extends until
December 2014.66 The renewal of the EU NAVFOR provided the Navy to operate
on Somalia’s water, which helps to stop illegal dumping of waste by pirates in
Somalia’s water.
EU Navy has protected the WFP vessels adequately. It has also helped to
protect vessels used for trade. Nevertheless, I mandate that having Navy on the
sea is just part of the solutions to fight piracy, but not the main solution to
eradicate it.
Conclusion
In my own point of view, the current legal framework created in regards to
maritime piracy is not sufficient enough to combat modern day piracy. Even the
recent counter piracy laws just tries to fill some gaps of the UNCLOS, but also not
65 The EU fights againstpiracy in theHorn of Africa.European External Action Service.
66 Ibid

48
adequate to fight it. The jurisdiction limitation, Human right consideration and the
legal issues of hiring private armed guards have all been a hindrance to fighting
maritime piracy.
The UN Security Resolutions and the SUA Conventions has helped a little in
the fight of maritime piracy, but have not made a big impact in fighting modern
day piracy. The Resolution 1816 was mainly to deal with the issue of piracy in
Somalia and not other national states like, Nigeria, Yemen and Kenya where piracy
attacks are moderately high too. It just limits its scope to just one area, what
happens to other parts of the world’s oceans. The SUA convention is reactive
rather than preventive.
There is no treaty that has expressed state to criminalize the act of piracy
and not one single International court has been created to deal specially with
piracy crimes. National states do not have enough capacity to prosecute pirates.
The EU and NATO navy on the sea can sometimes help to deter piracy, but they
cannot suppress every pirate attack reason being that they can’t be present at
every location on the high sea. The Somali pirates are even believed not to be
scared of the NATO and EU navy.
In the mandate to fight maritime piracy I believe that the fighting should
start from land. National states and International bodies should cooperate fully to
find out the root cause of piracy and try to solve these problems. National states
should try to make countries like Somalia and Nigeria have a stable and effective
government, provide infrastructural amenities and job opportunities for the

49
citizens. In Summary, my suggestions to fight maritime piracy are;
 The jurisdiction limitation should be eradicated,
 Human right considerations should be more flexible,
 International court should be provided to specialize in dealing with
piracy matter
 International laws dealing with control of piracy should be free
from uncertainty
 It must be legally and generally acceptable to hire private armed
guards
 Creation of more regional cooperation’s; likes of ReCAAP
Agreement 2006 has helped to deal with piracy.
 And finally International bodies and National states should help
those states with poor government and economy to become
stabilized like Somalia.
I know it is quite impossible to eradicate piracy totally off the world’s oceans, but
with the suggestions I have made above they can help to reduce piracy to the
extent that it would not have major adverse effects on International shipping
operations.

50
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53
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54
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55
 Tullio Treves, “Piracy, Law of the Sea, and Use of Force: Developments off
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Cases
 Achille Lauro
 Medvedyev and Others v. France
Conventions
 European Community of Human Rights Act
 Geneva Convention on the High Seas 1958
 Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Convention
1985
 United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982
 United Security Council Resolution 1816 2008
 United Security Council Resolution 1846
 United Security Council Resolution
 United Security Council Resolution

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