Adopting an Affective-Discursive approach, this article explores the visual and textual representations of Somali Pirates in the Danish Film A Hijacking, which is based on true events. I argue that ...the lack of subtitles for exchanges in the Somali language, camera treatment of the pirates, and the juxtaposition between sound and editing techniques used to capture the pirate and the western crew, have resulted in a screen production that not only masks the complexities of the piracy enterprise but also marginalizes Somali pirates and their truths, portraying them as little better than savages. This irreducibility between image and text will also be a key point of departure for examining the figure of the pirate as an affective/abjective/monstrous construction, rather than simply a discursive/textual one.
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.
This Article will argue that, in order to combat the rise of Somali piracy, major maritime nations should rely on national prosecutions of Somali pirates in the courts of stable regional partners, ...such as Kenya, the Seychelles, and Mauritius. A systematic transfer program and prosecutions in the national courts of several regional partners would preclude the possibility of pirate catch-and-release, and could ultimately provide enough deterrence to seriously dissuade young Somali men from engaging in piracy. The Somali pirates, enemies of all mankind, may find potent foes in the form of Kenyan, Seychellois, and Mauritian prosecutors, who will subject pirates to prosecutions on behalf of all mankind.
On January 21, 2011, the Korean navy commandos rescued the twenty-one crewmen abducted and detained by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. The pirates captured alive were brought to Korea for trial ...and the prosecutor’s office of Pusan sentenced the leader of the Somali pirate group to life-imprisonment. The other four pirates received imprisonment terms from 12 to 15 years. Regardless of these domestic legal punishments, this rescue operation has raised a few critical international legal questions. The primary objective of this paper is to answer these questions. This research analyzes the international legal characteristics of the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. Then, a few case-studies of military rescue operation are carried out in order to justify the Korean Navy’s rescue operation. The Korean Navy’s rescue operation may be regarded as an act of forcible self-help and realization of existing international legal right.
In April 2011, the authors assisted a task team comprised of forensic investigators and detectives to conduct a crime scene investigation on board a very large crude carrier (VLCC) at sea off Durban, ...South Africa. The VLCC had been held hostage by Somali pirates for 58 days prior to the investigation. This article examines the investigative challenges faced by the forensic investigators and detectives who conducted the investigation and processed forensic evidence on the VLCC which had effectively been declared a major crime scene. Qualitative data for the article was generated from questionnaires completed by the forensic investigators and the detectives who attended the crime scene and who apart from elaborating on the challenges they consider unique to processing a major maritime crime scene also include suggestions which they believe may assist in establishing best practices for dealing with and processing physical evidence at future major maritime crime scenes.
In the wake of the 21st century, Africa's waters have now overtaken traditionally dangerous areas such as the Strait of Malacca in the Southeast Asia in terms of visibility in the global map of ...piracy. The recent increase in the frequency and range of pirate attacks around the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden off the Horn of Africa has become a subject of growing concern to states and other stakeholders, especially in the shipping industry. This article therefore focuses on the dynamics of maritime piracy in the region. Specifically, it draws attention to the more significant "hard security" concerns the explosion of piracy has generated within the international community. It further examines the factors underpinning the outbreak of piracy in the region and highlights some efforts to curb the scourge. It argues that only an effective combination of counterpiracy enforcement measures and robust policies designed to stabilize Somalia can effectively address this growing threat to merchant shipping in the region.
Private anti-piracy navies Pitney, John J., Jr; Pitney, John J., Jr; Levin, John-Clark
2013., 2013
eBook
The twenty-first century has seen a sharp rise in privatization of the military, especially of logistics and security functions during the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The outbreak of ...Somali piracy that started in 2008 has prompted a similar revolution in maritime security. Private security companies began operating armed escort vessels to protect merchant shipping against pirates off the Horn of Africa. Private Anti-Piracy Navies is intended to provide a contextualized understanding of the historical origins, current state, and future prospects of this fast-changing sector. Centuries ago, the British East India Company used a private navy against piracy in the same waters with much success. Yet since then, international law has evolved to more tightly regulate the use of force by civilians, and to afford greater protections to suspected pirates. Thus, the development of what are in effect private warships has presented numerous legal and regulatory problems. How can the companies that operate these vessels be effectively licensed? Under what circumstances should they be allowed to use lethal force? This book explains how regulators in industry and government have attempted to answer such questions, and highlights the remaining areas of uncertainty. It also addresses the economic factors that drive the struggle between pirates and anti-piracy forces. Of equal concern are operational considerations such as defensive tactics, logistics, and rules of engagement. Security companies must carefully balance rights concerns against the need to defend ships effectively. Partly due to the contribution of private security, piracy in the Indian Ocean has dropped significantly over the past two years, leading to widespread overconfidence. Governments under severe budget pressure may withdraw their naval task forces from the region prematurely, leading to a resurgence of Somali piracy. At the same time, pirates are wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa. The book concludes with an assessment of private naval forces’ prospects in these conflicts over the short term, as well as the implications for wider naval privatization in the long run.
Somalia has been for decades a country on the verge of humanitarian catastrophe with constant inner conflicts hunger and place where only the pirates reign. Horn of Africa Pirates as they have been ...called in the Gulf of Aden area, seize ships asking for millions of dollars ransom for their release and become one of the most interesting global phenomena. Somalia piracy problem is becoming a growing international problem that should be primarily resolved on land of Somalia then at sea. This year Somalia celebrates her 50th anniversary of independence, a reason more for the Somalia people to be united in their fight for freedom and dignity of their own country, regardless of their regional or tribal affiliation. Somalia should be provided with a decisive international support and solidarity in order to start to build her stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Introduction Fink, Leon
Sweatshops at Sea,
03/2011
Book Chapter
This book, although not about pirates, begins with the topic of pirates. In April 2009, most Americans were startled to learn that a U.S. flagged merchant ship, the Maersk Alabama, had been attacked ...by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa and equally relieved when the destroyer USS Bainbridge, which happened to be patrolling in the area, arrived to rescue the captain and literally blow up his captors. A sporadic and generally marginal phenomenon across two centuries, the incidence of oceanic piracy has picked up in recent years due to the juncture of rising Asian exports—especially for transshipment through the Suez Canal and the Molucca Straits—and the number of “failed states” around the Indian Ocean.
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