International piracy law
Throughout history and legal precedents, pirates have been defined as hostis humani generis, Latin for "the enemy of all mankind".
[6] Article 108 is not strictly piracy law, but for the suppression of illicit traffic of narcotic drugs at sea.
[10] The 1932 Convention of Piracy (CoPir) was provided as one of the thirteen commentaries presented in the 1930 League of Nations Codification Conference on International Law.
[17] Ships have been captured off the coast of Somalia and crews held for ransom since the 1990s, with armed groups in the territorial sea and the government unable to enforce the law.
[19] This allowed states to cooperate with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia in order to suppress piracy.
[22] Although there was extreme violence this did not meet the UNCLOS piracy definition of motivation (mens rea) for “private ends”.
[23] In the 2013 case Institute of Cetacean Research v. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a United States district court held that the actions of Sea Shepherd vessels against Japanese whaling vessels fell within the UNCLOS piracy definition of 'private ends'.
[24] The court ruled that Greenpeace motivation to 'alert the public of harmful discharge to the environment' fell within the UNCLOS piracy definition of 'private ends.
[26] Somalia Pirates claim that they take to the seas in order to protect pillaged local resources, and in response to lost income.
[26] The Shared Awareness and Deconfliction Mechanism (SHADE) was set up in 2008 as an informal forum for States and Organisations to collaborate on counter-piracy measures off the Horn of Africa.
[28] Coordination between international naval operations, defensive actions of the shipping industry and agreements such as the CGPCS and the DCoC have contributed to repressing piracy and armed robbery.
[29] The regional agreements enabled development of best practices to combat piracy and global transfer of expertise.
[30] The nature of the peril of piracy requires specialist underwriting to match the level of risk with the premium.
[32] These three conventions apply to piracy off Somalia, as there is intention to hold the crew hostage for ransom and to seize a ship violently.
[32] State parties must take offenders into custody for trial or extradition, but this is only allowed in the territorial sea.
[32] Pirates seized in the territorial sea of Somalia can be delivered to Kenya for trial and prosecution under the transfer rules of the SUA Convention.
