COUNTER-PIRACY: ORCHESTRATING THE RESPONSE
Keywords:
COUNTER-PIRACYAbstract
Causes of sea piracy are very complex and often defy easy solution. One of
the major reasons for reemergence of piracy over the past two decades was an
enormous increase in both international and domestic maritime trade and large
number of ports. This, in turn, offered almost limitless range of tempting, highpayoff
targets for pirates and terrorists. In many undeveloped countries, lack
of adequate naval forces or coast guard and maritime surveillance capabilities
combined with coastal and port-side security make it much easier for various
criminal groups to commit piratical acts. Escalation of piracy at sea in recent
years has been a matter of great concern to the maritime community and has
prompted International Maritime Organization (IMO) to make combating it a
central theme of its work. The reality, of course, is that piracy is too complex
and has become too entrenched for any one entity to deal with it effectively. After
the hijacking of one of the Bangladeshi flag vessel in 2010, people of Bangladesh
came to know about modern day hijacking in the open sea and their activities.
Through a series of measures, developed and implemented with the strong and
much appreciated co-operation of the littoral States and the unreserved support
of the shipping industry, the scourge of piracy in those waters has significantly
reduced nowadays. The United Nations, alliances (political and defense) of
States, Governments acting collectively or individually, military forces, shipping
companies, ship operators and ships’ crews, all had a crucial part to play in order
to rid the world of the threat posed by sea piracy. To alleviate this unacceptable
situation, no effort should be spared. Shipping companies must ensure that
their ships rigorously apply the IMO guidance and industry-developed Best
Management Practices in their entirety, so that, when venturing into the seas and oceans, they comply with all the recommended measures as no ship is
invulnerable. Some success in thwarting pirate attacks can already be claimed
from the falling percentage of attacks that prove successful. Nevertheless, as the
statistics so bleakly indicate, piracy and armed robbery against ships remain
real and ever-present dangers to those who use the seas for peaceful purposes.
So long as pirates continue harassing shipping, hijacking ships and seafarers,
the maritime institutions can neither be proud of, nor content with, the results
achieved so far. A comprehensive approach is badly needed in to deter sea piracy
in the world’s ocean. The military action alone cannot resolve the problem of
piracy. It must be only a part of a much broad and comprehensive series of
actions. The main causes of piracy are predominantly political, economic, and
social. Hence, the long-term solution can be found only if the international
community and regional governments make concerted efforts to solve the root
causes of piracy.
Downloads
References
Counter-Piracy: An Operational Perspective by Milan Vego, Reprinted from
Tidskrift i Sjöväsendet Issue 3 2009, Published by THE ROYAL SWEDISH
SOCIETY OF NAVAL SCIENCES.
Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations of US Navy delivers
remarks at the 20th International Sea power Symposium at October 19, 2011.
Lee, Diana (2005), “Pirates Strike at Will in the Straits of Malacca”, Viewed on
June 2007, Source:http://uniorb.com/ATREND/piracy.htm
Hanson, Stephanie, Combating Maritime Piracy, Council on Foreign Relations,
January 2009, Viewed on 30 January 2009, Source: http://www.cfr.org/
publication/18376/combating_maritime_piracy.html
Lee, Seo-Hang (2001), “Security of SLOCS in East Asia and the Role of
Navies”, Journal of Indian Ocean Studies, 9(1):67-76.
Abukar Arman, Somali piracy and the Enchanting Water Circus, Dec 4, 2008,
Viewed on 12 December 2008, Source:http://onlinejournal.com/artman/
publish/article_4086.shtml.
CIA –The World Facts, Viewed on 10 January 2009, Source: https://www.cia.
gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/ geos/so.html
Elmi, Afyare Abdi, UN and US should restore Somalia, Viewed on 10 January 2009,
Source:http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/2009/2009/01/20091251129
html.
“Shipping insurance cost soars with piracy surge off Somalia,” Times Online, 11
September, 2008, Viewed on 26 November 2008, (http://business.timesonline.
co.uk/tol/business /industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/ article4727372.ece).
Chinese Navy Begins Somali Piracy Patrols: Report, Defense News, Viewed on
January 2009, Source: http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3888897
Somali Pirates: Russia to send ships for pirate hunt, EagleSpeak, September
, 2008, Viewed on 23 November 2008,Source: http://www.eaglespeak.
us/2008/09/somali-pirates-russia-to-sendships- for.html.
Bjorn Møller, Hoist the Jolly Roger: Piracy, Maritime Terrorism and Naval
Strategy (pre liminary version, 16 November 2008).
Cited in Richard M. O’Meara, “Maritime Piracy in the 21st Century: A Short
Course for U.S. Policy Makers,” Journal of Global Change and Governance,
Vol I, Number 1, winter 2007.
Peter Chalk, The Maritime Dimension of International Security. Terrorism,
Piracy, and Challenges for the United States (Santa Monica, CA: RAND
Corporation, 2008.
”Russian warships escort another convoy in the Gulf of Aden,” http://en.rian.
ru/ military_news/20090821/155874596.html.
Sam Bateman, “Maritime Security Implications of the International Shipping
Recession”, Australian Journal of Maritime and Ocean Affairs, vol. 1, no. 4,
December 2009.
United Nations Conference on Trade 1. and Development, 2008, Review of
Maritime Transport 2008, Geneva and New York, United Nations.
Jermyn Chow, “Sea Piracy Hits Five-year High in Waters near Singapore: Worst
Affected Vessels are Tankers and Large Container Ships”, The Straits Times, 21
September 2009.
Yun Yun Teo, 2007, “Target Malacca Straits: Maritime Terrorism in Southeast
Asia”, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, vol. 30, no. 6.
Peter Chalk, Laurence Smallman and Nicholas Burger, 2009, Countering
Piracy in the Modern Era: Notes from a RAND Workshop to Discuss the Best
Approaches for Dealing with Piracy in the 21st Century, RAND document CF-
-OSD, RAND Corporation.
Carrie Levine, “Ship owners Want Protection from Pirates”, The National Law
Journal, 22 September 2009.David Hughes, “Shipping Industry Calls for New
Thinking on Piracy”, Maritime Global Net, 23 November 2009, at
mglobal.com/news/dailystorydetails.cfm?storyid=10453&type=2>
Speech by Efthimios E. Mitropoulos,Secretary-General, International Maritime
Organization on the eve of Launching of World Maritime Day theme for 2011
on 3 February 2011.