The International Response To Somali Piracy

The recent surge in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia has triggered an international response which is unprecedented in terms of the number of actors involved. The International Response to Somali Piracy presents a comprehensive treatment of the international response to Somali piracy, exploring current initiatives to counter the piracy threat, both operationally and legally. Moreover, the book analyzes the regional and broader international context within which these initiatives are taken, and identifies the challenges and opportunities for international cooperation on fighting piracy at sea. This volume brings together experts from a great variety of different backgrounds and disciplines.

Following six years of extensive fieldwork, Weldemichael examines the international causes, internal dynamics, and domestic consequences of piracy in Somalia.

Piratical attacks have become more frequent, violent, costly and increasingly threaten to undermine order in the international system. Much attention has focused on Somalia, but piracy is a problem worldwide. Recent coordination efforts among states in South East Asia appear to have helped in the area, but elsewhere piracy has expanded. Interestingly, international law has long recognized piracy as a crime and provided tools for universal suppression, yet piracy persists. In this book, a handpicked group of leading experts in the field of International Relations use maritime piracy as a means to expose the incongruities in our understanding of global governance. Using broadly constructivist approaches to understand international actors’ responses to the challenges created by maritime piracy, the contributors question a number of myths and misconceptions around piracy and analyze the various ways that international law and organizations channel actors’ understandings of maritime piracy and their efforts to respond to it. In doing so, they expose some shaky foundations for IR theorists: how do we conceive of governance and legitimacy when they are delinked from the territorial aspect of the modern nation-state? What happens to prospects for cooperation when we get to the nitty-gritty questions of practice related to paying for trials, imprisoning and maintaining captured pirates, bearing the burden of policing sea-lanes, or even determining what constitutes a pirate? Does anyone have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force at sea, and how is that legitimacy constructed? Maritime Piracy and the Construction of Global Governance offers an improved theoretical understanding of the response of the international community to maritime piracy and broadens our understanding of the complex and sometimes countervailing motivations of all the actors involved, from international organizations and states down to the pirates themselves.

Global maritime piracy has remained a challenge for the community of states since antiquity. The scope, nature and context of this practice has spawned various responses and policies among nations to deal with it. In recent times, incidences of piracy off the coast of Somalia have increased, making the Gulf of Aden the epicenter of pirate activities today. This is a worrisome trend, considering the region's vital importance as a shipping hub. The aim of this work is to analyze the role of the international community in combating maritime piracy in Somalia. The book seeks to address the following pertinent questions: What is the historical development of maritime piracy in Somalia, what measures has the international community put in place to counter it and what mechanisms are effective at curbing maritime pirate attacks in the Horn of Africa. A wealth of knowledge and scholarly material already exists on the issue of Somalia and its free fall to chaos. However, this study limits its scope to maritime piracy and the responses to it, in an effort to foster an enhanced understanding of the vice, its upsurge within Somali coastal communities and how affected states can combat it.

Maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia was first recognised as a global concern in 2008 after the hijackings of World Food Programme vessels. It remains a serious impediment to international maritime trade and a significant risk to seafarers. Bringing a criminological perspective to the subject, this book presents an analysis of Somali piracy by means of Routine Activity Theory and regulatory pluralism. Based on data from a range of sources, including published documents and in-depth interviews with representatives of industry, government, and international organisations, the study concludes that no one institution or policy will suffice to control Somali piracy. Accordingly, a number of different actors and institutions have a role to play in reducing the supply of motivated offenders, the vulnerability of prospective victims, and in enhancing guardianship. The book envisages a holistic counter-piracy program based on a pluralistic regulatory model that is sustainable within the region, and managed by the region, providing the best opportunity for both the immediate future, and for long-term success. This study will be essential reading for criminologists, public policy and legal scholars, as well as policy makers and regulators in countries affected by and dealing with piracy, and international professional advocacy groups operating in the maritime space.

Since 2008 increasing pirate activities in Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean have once again drawn the international community's attention to piracy and armed robbery at sea. States are resolved to repress these impediments to the free flow of trade and navigation. To this end a number of multinational counter-piracy missions have been deployed to the region. This book describes the enforcement powers that States may rely upon in their quest to repress piracy in the larger Gulf of Aden region. The piracy rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the legal safeguards applicable to maritime interception operations are scrutinized before the analysis turns to the criminal prosecution of pirates and armed robbers at sea. The discussion includes so-called shiprider agreements, the transfers of alleged offenders to regional states, the jurisdictional bases for prosecuting pirates, and the feasibility of an international(ized) venue for their trial. In addressing a range of relevant issues, this book presents a detailed and comprehensive up-to-date analysis of the legal issues pertaining to the repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea and assesses whether the currently existing legal regime is still adequate to effectively counter piracy in the 21st century.

International counter-piracy efforts have so far been focused on containing rather than solving the problem of piracy off the coast of East Africa. An effective strategy for resolving the threat of piracy in the long-term will require the international community to engage in extensive development efforts on land; to work with African partner nations to increase the capacity and capabilities of national and regional governments; and to provide viable economic alternatives to would-be pirates. Many of these strategies are already underway in West Africa, where the United States government in particular has undertaken a broadly holistic approach to maritime security. The security and political situation in Somalia has so been far less conducive to a land-based approach: but it is certainly within the US interest to explore development- and governance-based counter-piracy initiatives as circumstances allow. Unless the international community becomes willing to invest in a land-based solution to Somalia's dire political, economic, and humanitarian distress, the plague of Somali piracy will continue.

The pirates of Somalia have shaken the maritime world. They have mounted what amounts to the most substantial non-state threat to the security of international shipping for half a century and perhaps longer. Piracy outbreaks have also occurred in Southeast Asia and West Africa. In each case the international community has responded differently. What lessons can be learned from three different approaches and is it possible to distill lessons of international best practice that can be applied in the Gulf of Aden and the northern Arabian Sea? This paper will examine how and why these three piracy outbreaks arose. It will describe in particular why the threat off Somalia grew so rapidly, why it declined and why the elements that made it successful remain in place. It will examine the responses of the international community, asking whether or not the response off Somalia might have been more effective if it had benefitted from stronger international backing and more coherent coordination. It will make the point that maritime security – the prevention and suppression of disorder at sea – must address many more issues than piracy as the theft of fish and the movement of drugs; weapons and people can often present greater risks. It will build on this point by looking at maritime security developments drawn from all three regions that may be employed advantageously in the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, before circling back to look at the fundamental problem, which is one of landward security and asking what initiatives have been taken to address this in Somalia and which ones appear to be yielding results. Finally, it will examine whether the way forward does lie with a unified global initiative, or if steps are better taken regionally calling upon extra-regional support as necessary.