Piracy poses serious threats to nations, India has stressed the need for counter- piracy strategy
“Piracy is not only a threat to the freedom of maritime navigation, it is causing destabilising effects on global and regional trade and security.
“The negative humanitarian impact of this threat on seafarers who are the lifeline of maritime shipping can no longer be ignored,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri said yesterday during a UN Security Council debate on ‘Maintenance of International Peace and Security : Piracy’.
The thematic debate was organised under India’s monthly rotating Presidency of the 15-nation body.The Council later adopted a Presidential Statement on the issue of piracy, which was initiated by the Indian delegation,and incorporates the concerns of several countries relating to the welfare of seafarers taken as hostages by pirates.
Puri said the threat of piracy now looms over an area of more than 2.8 million square miles, posing the patrolling naval forces with a formidable task.
Despite increased naval presence, pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have continued, with little change in the level of violence by the pirates against seafarers. As of August 2012, the Somali pirates were holding 11 ships and 188 hostages, including 43 Indian seafarers.
Source: Maritime Security Review