Tag: maritime piracy

Definition of piracy includes violent attempts to hijack a ship, even if unsuccessful A US federal appeals court made clear on last Wednesday that the definition of piracy includes violent attempts to hijack a ship, even if unsuccessful, and upheld convictions against five Somali pirates.The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Virginia, upheld what federal prosecutors described as the first US piracy convictions in 190 years, finding that an individual does not have to seize or rob a ship to commit piracy.The court rejected a bid by five Somali men to overturn their convictions for attacking a US Navy ship they mistook for a merchant vessel in 2010.In April 2010, a small gang of Somali pirates fired on the USS Nicholas, which was lit to disguise itself as a merchant ship while combat ting piracy off the coast of Africa.Approaching on a skiff, the men fired AK-47s at the ship and launched rocket-propelled grenades into the air, but they never managed to board or seize the Navy frigate.After a pursuit, naval forces captured the pirates and transported them back to the United States to face piracy and related charges. The men were found guilty and convicted to ...

MSC 90 outcome Interim guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSCs) was agreed by IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), when it met at the Organization's London Headquarters for its 90th session from 16 to 25 May 2012.A special high-level segment of the MSC saw an intense debate, over the first day and a half of the Committee's session (See Briefing 16/2012), on how the international community should deal with issues related to the deployment of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) on board ships and the carriage of arms on board.Following further debate during a working group, the MSC agreed Interim Guidance to private maritime security companies (PMSC) providing contracted armed security personnel on board ships in the High Risk Area. The guidance covers:PMSC Professional Certification, including the recommendation that PMSC should seek certification with relevant national and international private maritime security service standards when these are established;PMSC Company requirements, including the recommendation that PMSC should establish procedures to provide maritime security services to ship owners and ship operators and comply with all relevant legal requirements;Management, including recommendations on selection, vetting and training of personnel for a PCASP team;Deployment considerations, addressing the specific aspects of PCASP deployment and the role ...

UNODC Counter Piracy Programme is offering its support to Indian Ocean The Regional Learning and Experience Exchange Workshop of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) started on Tuesday and will end on Friday.The UNODC Counter Piracy Programme is offering its support to Indian Ocean states which are prosecuting piracy cases.The workshop has two related aims: the support of regional piracy prosecutions, and the delivery of additional prison capacity in Somalia through the Piracy Prisoner Transfer Programme.Sergeant Ronny Narain from the Mauritius Police Force said that "there are 20 international participants in this workshop and they have been in Mauritius since last Friday and will remain here till Saturday."Mauritius has agreed to accept piracy suspects for prosecution from the many international navies operating in the Indian Ocean.Narain said, "Limitations for the regional states in accepting Somali pirates for prosecution is the impact on their prisons which are often already crowded with domestic prisoners."This workshop will explain how to tackle the pirates' arrests, their prosecution and their conviction.The UNODC police mentors will work with IMO to develop first-rate training for maritime justice practitioners based in the region, helping them to develop the instruments to respond to piracy and other ...

Kudos to the justice system in the UAE for the stern warning to pirates of the seas through giving them a life sentence for their attacks on merchant shipping.There is no doubt that this menace has increased exponentially and with their ill gotten gains the pirates are better armed, have a wider circle of evil influence and have become a threat to major shipping lanes. It is gratifying that the UAE has become part of the spearhead to combat this threat on the open waters and only when all nations come together and put up a consolidated front will this end. Since cooperation has intensified there has been a reported drop of 28 per cent in the acts of piracy but the remaining 72 per cent is still to be tackled and done so with grit and determination.Media reports place the losses from such attacks at about $7 billion but it is not a definitive figure since no one can quite quantify the loss of seizure and its ripple effect. Quoting statistics one sees exactly how deep the rot went before there was a concerted effort to stop the bruising to international ocean trade. The petrochemical industry was one of ...

NIMASA proposed law which is titled 'Bill on Piracy and Other Unlawful Acts at Sea' In a bid to ensure that its fight against piracy has the backing of the law, Nigeria's apex maritime regulatory authority, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has presented a bill to the National Assembly.The proposed law which is titled 'Bill on Piracy and Other Unlawful Acts at Sea' is aimed at fighting Piracy and armed robbery at sea. The Director General, NIMASA, Mr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, disclosed this in a welcome address he presented at a stakeholders' meeting in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt.The NIMASA helmsman, represented by the agency Legal Adviser, Mr. Matthew Egbadon, said the bill is expected to provide legal backing to the fight against piracy and other sea criminality and curb the financial losses, which he claimed was in excess of $3 billion. He noted that the draft bill, put together by the agency's consultant, International Maritime Organisation (IMO) technical consultant and the legal team of the agency, entails the review of the UNCLOS 1982 and the SUA 1988 conventions and protocols as they relate to piracy."NIMASA, being the focal point for implementation of relevant maritime conventions ...

Kassim Mohamed is an investigative reporter covering Kenya and Somalia A Kenyan journalist investigating the Somali pirates will receive a 2012 Knight International Journalism Award, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) announced. The award recognizes excellent reporting that makes a difference in the lives of people around the world.Kassim Mohamed is an investigative reporter covering Kenya and Somalia, a nation plagued by lawlessness and piracy. He has chronicled the ensuing chaos in great detail -and at great personal risk- for the Nairobi-based Star FM radio station and The Star newspaper.His in-depth interviews with Somali pirates have shed light on a lucrative industry that endangers international sea routes. During one investigation, the pirates took him hostage. After they freed him, he wrote a groundbreaking story on the struggles of the pirates' wives. He has received death threats.A Kenyan of the Somali ethnic community, Mohamed covered the beleaguered Somali refugees living in Nairobi. He wrote about gangs that terrorized a Somali neighborhood in Nairobi as the police apparently looked the other way. After the story appeared, the police arrested 65 gang members.The winners of this year's award, sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will be honored at ICFJ's ...

Fortunately, onboard security guards were able to deter the pirates Pirates in the Gulf of Oman attacked the Maersk Texas, a U.S.-flagged c argo ship, but onboard guards repelled them, Maersk Line Ltd, a unit of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Wednesday.The attack on the ship - a 19,592 deadweight tonnes (dwt) vessel which is 148 metres (486 feet) long - took place at noon local time on Wednesday when it was passing through the Gulf of Oman, northeast of the Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, Maersk Line Ltd said.The vessel had just left the Straits of Hormuz and was on its way back to the United States, a spokesman said."Numerous skiffs with armed men in each boat quickly closed on Maersk Texas," Maersk Line Ltd, a U.S. unit of the Maersk group, said in a statement. Despite warnings, the pirates continued to approach the vessel and then fired upon it, after which a security team returned fire in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard rules of engagement, Maersk Line Ltd said."All hands onboard are safe and unharmed, and the vessel is proceeding on its voyage," the company said.A Maersk Line spokesman said he did not have ...

Pirates are said to be holding up to 17 cargo ships and over 300 crew members European Union forces last week made the first ever raid on one of the inland bases of Somali pirates who have recently stepped up their banditry on the high seas of the Indian Ocean. This looks like the first attempt at pursuing the pirates to one of their hideouts near the port of Harad here.Somalia-based pirates have evolved into a huge security threat - probably of equal proportion to the one posed by their politically-inclined brothers, the Al-Shabab. The pirates are said to be holding up to 17 cargo ships and over 300 crew members for ransom.This calls for a more comprehensive international solution to rid the high seas of this menace. Alongside Al-Qaeda, pirates should be categorized as the number one terrorist organization.The Amison forces comprising Ugandans and Burundians peacekeepers should be given logistical support and their mandate broadened to include neutralizing pirates on land while the EU and other forces tackle then at sea. The world cannot afford to simply watch as piracy grows bigger than this. This is very dangerous and east Africa, in particular, cannot afford to look on as ...

Somalia's business community can support aid efforts Despite - or perhaps because of - more than 20 years of war, Somalia has a remarkably strong private sector, particularly in the money transfer, telecommunications and livestock spheres. Yet, as the 2010 Inter-Agency Standing Committee evaluation of the humanitarian response in Somalia points out, aid agencies have failed to engage systematically the Somali private sector and disapora in their work.This is no small omission, given that remittances alone are estimated at $1bn-2bn (6.3-12.6m) a year in Somalia - and this figure does not even take into account the vital role the diaspora plays in providing basic services such as healthcare, education and water, as well as infrastructure and enterprise.There are significant operational challenges to working with businesses in Somalia. Legitimate concerns surround preventing the diversion of aid, upholding humanitarian and "do no harm" principles, and managing reputational risk. However, working with the private sector in protracted crises is both an operational necessity and a major opportunity for recovery and development.A new report by the Humanitarian Futures Programme, released in the runup to the 31 May-1 June Istanbul Conference on Somalia, shows how initiatives led by the UN during the 2011 famine provide ...

These days it is the lawyers who would rule the waves The jokes about peg legs, parrots and the Jolly Roger are long gone.Piracy is no laughing matter and these days it is the lawyers who would rule the waves.According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), piracy is defined as "any illegal act of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship".Further, UNCLOS states that "all states have an obligation to cooperate to the fullest possible extent in the repression of piracy and have universal jurisdiction on the high seas to seize pirate ships and aircraft, or a ship or aircraft taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize the property on board". The convention also allows states to "exercise a right of visit vis-a-vis ships suspected of being engaged in piracy".What sounds relatively simple on paper is more complex in reality. An immediate difficulty is the phrase "high seas", which refers to international waters. Most attacks are carried out in Somali waters, but Somalia has no effective government on land, let ...