In the fight against piracy, Dutch shipping companies should be allowed to hire private security for protection along risky sailing routes. That’s just one of the recommendations to come out of a new report published Thursday by the Dutch Advisory Council on International Affairs.
The report also emphasized that self-defence is an international right and must be acknowledged, and suggested that military teams be considered on cargo vessels.
According to the Royal Association of Netherlands’ Shipowners, this is exactly what the sector needs. “We are very pleased with this report” says chairman Tineke Netelenbos. Currently, hiring guards to work on any cargo vessel is illegal under Dutch law, and some ship owners have decided to sail their ships under foreign flags to avoid lawsuits. But liability issues and questions regarding the chain of command in these situations remain a problem.
Rise in 'cowboy companies'
Experts fear the growing number of ‘cowboy companies’ in the private security sector will offer badly disciplined teams. But the report recommends that the Defence Ministry implement a certification programme that would minimise this risk by accrediting security contractors to deploy armed guards on high risk ships.
Although no Dutch ships have been hijacked in the last five years, 29 attacks have been reported, especially in the coastal waters near Somalia and close to Nigeria’s river deltas. And it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. While the Shari'a law enforced by Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union was effective at reducing piracy, attacks are back up after the overturn of the courts in 2006 by the Ethiopian army. In the first ten months of 2010, there were 124 attempted hijackings, and the report estimates that a total of 82 million US dollars in ransom money was paid in 2009.
Military solution
According to the report, Nigeria also remains a breeding ground for piracy. Compared to Somalia, West African pirates are less organised and sometimes politically motivated, but it’s still a problem; 11 ships were hijacked in 2010.
But, according to the experience of retired Dutch captain Jaap Stengs, having military personnel on board is an effective solution, whether they’re Dutch or not. “I was hauling oil equipment, and got a platoon of Nigerian Marines assigned to my ship. They caught one guy that was trying to steal cargo. We handed the suspect over to local law enforcement; I really appreciated the cooperation with the Nigerians.”
The report was presented to the Dutch defence minister today - a response is expected in February.
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Somalia Based Piracy – Use UNCLOS & Prison Ships
It is a pity there is no Sea Shepherd providing a truly safe passage through these waters as there is in the southern ones, looking after whales who also cannot shoot back.
Using UNCLOS the United Nations (or its security council) and a small measure of common sense should draw up a resolution to charter in prison or accommodation vessels. Those caught committing acts of piracy could then be held in suitably designed vessels floating offshore under UN jurisdiction. By doing so, no longer would pirates and suspects be released and hence free to continue acts of tyranny against innocent unarmed seafarers and world commerce. Currently most of those apprehended by the navies of the world are simply let go after a brief interrogation. This must be as galling to naval personnel as it is to their counterpart merchant marine mariners but apparently not so to politicians.
However, politicians the world over are seemingly content to squander billions of dollars of taxpayer’s money. Naval protection undoubtedly helps but only in small measure and certainly, it does not make commercial sense. It is openly accepted that with the vastness of the ever-increasing area where attacks are perpetrated, deployed naval vessels simply cannot cope. The view of naval power is that the merchant vessels are in the best position to defend themselves and cite the employment of the much-vaunted “Best Management Practice.” Undoubtedly, BMPs can be very effective but they are not an absolute answer.
The answer we are told is a stable situation ashore in Somali and after 20 odd years of being allowed to fester, sadly this is nowhere on the horizon. It is patently obvious that there will be no stability let alone the infrastructure ashore anytime soon. In the meantime, those on whom the world depends to feed and water it will continue to face the risk of being taken hostage, disabled or killed while politics pontificates and procrastinates.
More and more owners, officially or otherwise are placing private armed escorts on board to ensure the safe passage of their vessels and those sailing them. Certainly, they will be held to account should a shooting match result in the death of poor innocent pirates. They are told from all sides that they must do more to protect the seafarers. Like the naval personnel, their hands are pretty much tied behind their backs. Holding the high and moral ground, a couple light machine guns firing tracer rounds in the direction of attacking skiffs would see them about turn in pretty short order.
On the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) website, it states, “The oceans are the very foundation of human life…” Indeed fine words, clicking on them will take to you Oceans and Law of the Sea.
All states that have ratified, acceded or succeeded to UNCLOS have a duty under article 100:
To cooperate to the fullest possible extent in the repression of piracy on the high seas or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State
UNCLOS defines piracy in article 101 as follows:
(a) Any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:
(i) On the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;
(ii) Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;
(b) Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;
(c) Any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph (a) or (b).
A pirate vessel under UNCLOS 103 is:
A ship or aircraft is considered a pirate ship or aircraft if it is intended by the persons in dominant control to be used for the purpose of committing one of the acts referred to in article 101. The same applies if the ship or aircraft has been used to commit any such act, so long as it remains under the control of the persons guilty of that act.
All States under UNCLOS 105 can:
On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate ship or 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 courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith.
Under UNCLOS 107 entities that can affect seizure of a pirate ship are:
A seizure on account of piracy may be carried out only by warships or military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft clearly marked and identifiable as being on government service and authorized to that effect.
In addition to UNCLOS a number of other instruments such as the 1988 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation
Jim Nicoll – www.faceofshipping.com
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