PIRACY AND GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS

PIRACY AND GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS

GEETA MADHAVAN

Published in 

The New Indian Express

Thursday 14  November 2013

Serious concerns have risen for the international community with the resurgence of piracy in the last two decades. In international law, piracy is considered to be the vilest of all crimes at sea.  Cicero, the Roman legal theorist, summed up the perception of pirates thus: “For a pirate is not included in the number of lawful enemies, but is the common enemy of all …. an enemy with whom treaties are in vain and war remains incessant”.  International law identifies pirates as communis hostis omnium: common enemy of all. Under international law, therefore, all countries have a right to apprehend pirate ships, attack and board them and bring the pirates to trial and punish them under their national laws. Also all  countries have jurisdiction to capture pirates  not only for piracy committed within their territorial sea ( 12 nautical miles from their shores) and over the waters they have control   but also  for  acts of piracy committed in the high seas - the area that is  considered as belonging to all mankind . Hot pursuit of the pirates can also be done up to the territorial waters of another country. This explains and justifies the recent actions taken by the international community against piracy.

  Piracy attacks are concentrated in busy sea lanes of commerce through which much of the world trade passes. The number of attacks on ships worldwide in 2013 have been reported to be 206 although several attacks go unreported for various reasons e.g. for reasons of insurance claims.  Pirates seize the ships and hold the crew as hostages demanding high ransom for the release of these ships and their crew. Piracy has been re-established in modern times as lucrative business and the modern day pirates use heavy duty firepower like automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, satellite phones for communications and other technologically advanced gadgets that allow them to track the movements of ships.  Pirates also seize ocean-going fishing or merchant ships and then turn them into “mother ship” and use them as base for further attacks on other ships. They force the crew of the captured ships to sail within attacking distance of the unsuspecting ships. These modern developments  in piracy has created the need for ships to install new technology to warn and protect themselves and also has led to the practice of carrying armed guards on board ships. 

 Four major maritime areas have been identified where ships laden with cargo and oil tankers are most susceptible to attacks. The areas are the : Gulf of Aden and the southern entrance to the Red Sea ;Gulf of Guinea near Nigeria and Niger river delta; Malacca Straits between Indonesia and Malaysia and the region around the Indian subcontinent.  The international community is effectively staving off the pirate attacks by conducting joint maritime military operations and joint naval deployments for patrolling the waters. For instance, in the Gulf of Aden - Russia, France, United Kingdom, India, China and the United States are engaged in patrolling the waters.  Operation Ocean Shield is conducted by NATO in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa. The Djibouti Code of Conduct adopted in 2009 to repress piracy has eighteen member countries of the western Indian Ocean region. There are several such military operations and initiatives around the world that clearly indicate that most countries are committed to fight piracy. India has to protect 2.013 million square miles which is equal to almost two-thirds of its land area. Most of the attacks by pirates have been in the waters surrounding India and around India’s extended neighbourhood and have been by Indonesian and Somali pirates. In the case of the ship Alondaro Rainbow the Indonesian pirates were apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy. India assumed jurisdiction and brought them to trial in Mumbai and won the praise of the international community.

While the fight against piracy and the protection of sea lanes has been quite successful resulting in a reduction in the number of pirate attacks reported and in some cases these attacks have been successfully thwarted; some major concerns have risen about the global implications of the anti-piracy measures. In the face of danger to peace and security, the anti-piracy measures adopted   could   have other far reaching and less desirable consequences. Like the counter terrorism measures adopted in the aftermath of 9/11which were severely criticised, the desire to secure the seas and oceans could have counter effect and create schisms in the global order.  

The first concern is regarding the presence of foreign naval powers in the territorial waters of other nations. Some nations fear the presence of the navy of major international and  regional powers as not only invasion of their sovereign rights by the entry of armed  vessels   into their territorial waters but also as a strategy adopted for subtle geo- strategic balancing. For instance, China views anti-piracy patrolling by the United States as an attempt by the United States to place its naval ships closer to the Chinese mainland.  India has had to face the suspicion of some of its smaller neighbours, who are constantly voicing their apprehensions of supposed hegemonic intentions and India’s desire to command the

seas. Malacca Straits, where international patrolling has been welcomed by most sea faring nations, is the territorial waters of Malaysia and Malaysia has fears about the constant presence of foreign ships in the Straits. The old adage “he who seeks to rule the land must rule the seas“ is seen as a possible revival of the old strategy by powerful countries.

The second concern that needs to be addressed is the expansion of the naval prowess of nations to combat piracy. There is a well-founded fear that piracy could be used as an ostensible reason for all major powers to increase their naval power and justify many nations becoming “blue water” naval powers. There is a genuine fear that the theatre of war will shift from land warfare to maritime warfare. This also stands to reason in an era where countries are not only seeking to make themselves more and more energy efficient and are favouring feverish activity to bring the energy into their country by oil tankers and underwater pipelines. The unexploited potentials of the deep sea bed can also become the cause for serious maritime conflicts in the coming years. For example, China has protested India’s exploration for oil in the contested South China Sea while Vietnam claims sovereignty over the region and has backed India’s right to exploration. With scientific and technological advancement one can envisage the increase of similar disputes in the scramble for exploration rights in the deep seabed.

The third major concern is the new trend of armed guards aboard merchant ships and armed anti-piracy vessels. . Armed guards aboard ships and anti-piracy fighting ships of private firms are running into trouble regularly for defying maritime law and flouting the principles of sovereignty. In February 2012, the Italian ship Enrica Lexie shot and killed two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast claiming that they suspected them to be pirates. In October 2013, the US ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio carrying 35 assault rifles and more than 5000 rounds of ammunition was impounded for entering Indian waters near Tamil Nadu without required permission. Under international law only government authorized ships and war ships are allowed to carry ammunitions and they have restrictions of movements. Private firms obviously find anti-piracy measures like these lucrative businesses but there is apprehension that armed guards aboard ships and anti-piracy ships of private security firms may create a problem larger and more complex than the actual problem of piracy. Out sourcing the protection of the seas and oceans may not be best the long term solution but it could very well become a long term complication.