The Foreigner
Thursday, August 26, 2010
“Unacceptable”
Working in close collaboration with the UN, EU, and several East African countries, Norway is seeking for a joint international solution towards that end.
“It is totally unacceptable that the pirates can go free after having committed such serious crimes. I share the Shipowners’ Association's strong concern after the release of the pirates who tried to hijack ‘Bow Saga’ on August 3rd,” Norwegian State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) Erik Lahnstein said in press release earlier this month.
Norway is a member and a main financial contributor to a fund established under an international contact group for the Somali pirates, a body involving 130 countries and organizations that works towards combating issue.
In an attempt to combat the situation Norway is doubling its contribution from four to eight million Norwegian kroner, according to the UD.
Legal measures
The international community has been shaken and directly affected by the actions of the Somali pirates, and has been debating about the variety of the existing legal regime implementation options to punish the hijackers.
At yesterday’s UN Security Council meeting in New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for additional international financial involvement, outlining seven possible legal approaches to deal with acts of piracy.
These included reinforcing current states’ efforts to capture and punish pirates, assisting states in establishing special chambers for piracy trials, and establishing an African Union regional tribunal.
He also suggested creating a fully international Security Council tribunal in accordance with Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which defines what action the UN can take regarding threats and actual breaches of the peace, as well as acts of aggression.
Opposition
Norway has already said it opposes the last of these motions.
“Norway is against the Russian proposal to create an international court, but the pirates should serve time in jail near their own country,” Kjetil Elsebutangen, press officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) told The Foreigner.
According to the UN, 111 vessels were attacked in 2008, 217 were hijacked in 2009, and 450 people are being held hostage on Somali coasts as of May, 2010.
The latest attack on a Norwegian vessel was on August 3rd, when pirates tried to hijack the Odfjell chemical tanker MV “Bow Saga” in the Aden Gulf off Somalia.
Erik Lahnstein stressed the fact that“long-term solutions to the piracy problem lie on land in Somalia. Norwegian efforts against piracy should be considered in light of the broader Norwegian measures to lessen Somalia’s fundamental problems of lawlessness, violence and poverty.”
Source: The Foreigner