Towards the end of last year, I did a blog entry looking at how piracy was becoming more of a problem. Governments and shipping lines seem powerless to stop it.
Now to confirm that, we have the Washington Post reporting that despite the deployment of the European Union Naval Force, the first international force specifically to counter Somali pirates, pirate attacks nearly doubled in 2009.
Experts say that the only way to stop this is to wipe out the pirate havens in Somalia. And that's not going to happen because of international law.
So what can be done? It might be time to revisit the International Law of the Sea Convention . Article 105 of the convention does permit the seizure of a pirate ship. The problem is that article 110 says that in order to establish that a ship is indeed a pirate vessel, the warship, and it can only be a warship, has to send a boat to the suspected ship first and ask for its papers. Just another example of laws being framed by people out of touch with the real world.
Some might suggest air strikes and special operations raids into Somalia to destroy pirate ships and infrastructure. That would be a mistake because it would fuel anti-American and Islamist radicalism.
A more sensible solution would be for governments around the world to help rebuild Somalia so that young men can find alternative employment. That is no easy task but it would seem to be the only answer.
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