Here’s a current event that also touches on the concept of international law.  Individual countries, and their navies, don’t control the world’s oceans, and that spells opportunity for modern pirates off the coast of Somalia, who are making a fortune off of hijacking, terrorizing, and robbing defenseless ships and crews. Though this has been happening for years, the incidents are escalating and reached a new high (low point) this weekend, with the capture of the Sirius Star, a supertanker fully loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.  This is the largest ship taken to date, and is raising concerns and headaches over how to deal with the problem.
 
Welcome to the world of 21st-century piracy, where attacks are launched from GPS-equipped speed boats by gangs armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets and grenades.The modern-day brigands are also amassing hauls like never before – in multi-million-pound ransoms rather than gleaming treasure.

Up to $1 million (£660,000) per vessel is being secured, with the pirates’ total loot estimated to have reached some $30 million.

This issue touches on a lot of Requirement 3 and 4 issues, such as geography.
 
Somalia, on the Horn of Africa, has become the global piracy hotspot, fuelled by a combination of desperate men in a lawless country and its proximity to one of the world’s major trade routes through the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden – known as “the gates of hell”.
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The supertanker is the largest vessel yet hijacked, and it was much further out to sea – 450 miles – than previous attacks in the region. The incident would suggest any merchant vessel, however far offshore, could fall prey to pirates. The total area of “dangerous waters” is now estimated to cover some 2.5 million square miles.

The International Maritime Bureau’s director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, explains the problem:

“This major international seaway requires immediate increased protection and naval intervention. The increased frequency of piracy and heightening levels of violence are of significant concern to the shipping industry and all mariners.

 

“The types of attacks, the violence associated with the attacks, the number of hostages taken and the amounts paid in ransoms for the release of the vessels have all increased considerably.”
 
What to do?

 There are no easy – or cheap – answers. Ship operators are already diverting vessels on to longer routes to avoid the Gulf of Aden and Suez Canal, and multinational security patrols are being stepped up. A coalition of international navies established a maritime security patrol area around the Gulf of Aden in August.

But, Cyrus Mody, of the IMB, said armed guards aboard ships could spark an arms race between predators and prey.He said pirates often fired indiscriminately during an attack but did not aim to kill or injure crew. He said: “If someone onboard a ship pulls a gun, will the other side pull a grenade?”

Commodore Keith Winstanley of the Royal Navy, the deputy commander of the combined maritime forces in the Middle East, said: “It’s inconceivable that the coalition can be everywhere. The pirates will go somewhere we are not. If we patrol the Gulf of Aden, then they will go to Mogadishu (the Somali capital], and vice versa.”

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Arming ships is seen as no panacea either, despite that idea being welcomed by the United States Navy. Consultants said it could prompt pirates to open fire more readily, putting crews at greater risk.
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Not being able to control this problem will increase prices for the products you buy.

BGN Risk, a London-based corporate security risk firm, said piracy in the Gulf of Aden could increase insurance and transport costs by $400 million (£260 million). It said the special risks insurance levy for crossing the gulf had rocketed from $500 (£330) per voyage last year to $20,000.Liam Morrissey, a partner with the company, said: “This dramatic rise in piracy impacts the entire global supply chain by interrupting deliveries and escalating costs.

And questions of interational law come into play.  Who prosecutes? How?  What should the penalties be?  Does the international community have to do more than just law enforcement to put an end to piracy?

Another problem is what to do with the pirates once captured. OB Sisay, an Africa specialist at risk consultancy Exclusive Analysis, told the shipping journal Lloyd’s List: “While the UK could prosecute the pirates under the UK criminal offence of piracy, Royal Navy officers on anti-piracy duties currently have no law enforcement powers and therefore any evidence that they produced in the event of a UK prosecution would be likely to be thrown out.”The Rail Maritime and Transport union, which represents seafarers, has called for international action against piracy, which should include tackling Somalia’s problems.

 
Click on “Pirates Part 2″ to read about how piracy relates to the global economy.