David Osler
Thursday 22 January 2009
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LAW enforcement officers from Gulf of Aden states should join naval vessels tackling piracy in the region, in order to overcome legal impediments to arresting suspected Somali pirates, a United Nations agency has demanded.The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that the use of so-called ship riders has proved an effective deterrent to drug smuggling, particularly in the Caribbean, and also to illegal fishing.
The move has been welcomed by shipping industry security sources, who point out that naval officers have even released men captured in the perpetration of acts of piracy, precisely because of the uncertainties over jurisdiction.
“Ideally, suspects should be tried in the country where they came from, or in the country that owns the seized ship,” said UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa.
“But the Somali criminal system has collapsed, and countries like Liberia, Panama and the Marshall Islands — where many of the ships are registered — do not want to deal with crimes committed thousands of miles away.”
Subject to agreement, a ship rider arrangement would allow police personnel from, for example, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania or Yemen to join warships off the Somalian coast, arrest pirates in the name of their country, and then have them sent to a national court for trial.
The idea already has the backing of the United Nations Security Council, and is also likely to be discussed by the recently-formed UN contact group on Somalian piracy, as well as next week’s joint UN-International Maritime Organization summit in Djibouti.
BIMCO security specialist Giles Noakes said that the initiative was to be supported, although he warned that the devil was still in the detail of the implementation.
In particular, it would be necessary for the international community to strengthen the capacity of criminal justice systems in the relevant countries, to enable the effective investigation and prosecution of piracy cases.
Meanwhile, the Swiss government remains undecided over whether or not to dispatch Swiss soldiers to join European Union anti-piracy efforts in the region, with the country’s media reporting this week that the federal council has effectively passed the buck to the foreign ministry. Despite being landlocked, some 35 vessels fly the Swiss flag.
The rightwing Swiss People’s Party and the Greens are against the proposal, which has been a topic of political debate for some time. While the decision does not represent a definitive no, the consensus is that the longer the issue drags on, the less chance there is of a Swiss military intervention.
Source: Lloyd's List, Jan 22, 2009