Free Somali Pirates Essay Example

Maritime space has long been tied to the vital interests of mankind. However, the usage of maritime space was always accompanied and followed by a number of different dangers and different threats. Among unlawful acts against the safety of navigation, we must first identify the one that is the most dangerous of them. This unlawful act is maritime piracy, which refers to the forcible seizure of ships and fixed platforms group of armed individuals for their selfish private reasons and benefits.
According to official data, we can say that from the beginning of the XXI century, piracy has been experiencing its revival. Moreover, experts argue about the so-called shadow statistics committed acts of piracy, which, in their opinion, is higher than the official data for two to eight times. Victims of pirate attacks are basically three categories of business related to maritime transport - the owners of vessels, cargo owners and insurance companies. In today's highly competitive shipping market very often it happens so that victims do not report about the attacks on their ships, and that is why this attacks very often go unreported. Owners of vessels and cargoes often prefer to cover losses at its own expense, than to pay the premiums, especially high for routes through the so-called dangerous areas. In addition, statements about the attack entail lengthy formal investigations and related downtime at the port, and hence the payment of additional port charges.
Till now Somali pirates have been highjacking ships for a very long period of time, they highjack ships and demand ransom, paying no attention to the flag of the ship or the nationality of the crew. All the most advanced countries who were doing there best to stop Somali pirates, later began to argue that many military patrols in the Gulf of Aden appeared to be ineffective. The number of seizures of merchant ships continues to increase, the pirates swim further and further into the Indian Ocean. Now, attacks occur already near the coasts of Kenya and Tanzania, Oman and even the Seychelles.
The spread of piracy off the coast of Somalia, the Gulf of Aden and in the north-western Indian Ocean, as it is known, has acquired the international status long time ago. Apart from the fact that the actions of pirates pose a real threat to life and health of hundreds of sailors, they cause significant damage to the development of the region and the world economy as a whole. According to the experts researches, the direct and indirect damage to the world economy from Somali pirates in 2011 amounted to 6.6 - 6.9 billion US dollars.
If many years ago, Somali pirates have justified their actions by their noble motives that is, the fight against illegal fishing and the protection of national marine resources at a time when the country was in a state of total collapse, but now they have become a criminal organized community with "international affiliates" and modern equipment and weapons. Pirate ships compete in agility with the ships of the EU, NATO and the international Navy under the command of the United States.
According to international experts, the main advantage of the Somali pirates are rigid paramilitary structure and discipline that they have created. They have a military tribunal, book of payments and penalties, their own charter. In recent successful operations by Somali pirates there is nothing accidental, experts warn. They are grouped into a structure that is one of the most organized armed groups in the country, where the civil war takes place starting with year 1991 and lost till nowadays.
Therefore, the traditional image of the drunken and reckless Corsair does not fit into the current Somali reality, where the pirates paramilitary appear to be a "brotherhood" or community, whose activities are regulated by a complex system of rules and sanctions. It is divided into many small groups with two main bases in the ports and harbors Ayla in Puntland, the self-proclaimed autonomous region in northern Somalia and in the bays near Harader, in the south. Somali pirates claim that comply with a "gentleman's code" of conduct for hostages captured ships and crews. According to the pirates set of rules, they are to alien the force methods and violence. Somali pirates claim that they always try to avoid bloodshed and looking for peaceful solution of the problem.
There are plenty of solutions that may be found to solve the problem, but they all look even worse than the pirates by themselves. It is possible to simply fulfill the region with big quantity of warships to intimidate Somalis. This is how the most powerful countries of the world were trying to resolve the issue in the last couple of years, but this measures do not bring any positive results. After all, the pirates do not stand still. They are constantly improving the technique of their attacks: they innovate their tactics, buy weapons, and dare to go further and further from home Somali coasts. This solution means that the authorities will have to provide military escort for every merchant ship that swims in the western half of the Indian, that on practice appears to be impossible as it takes too much funds.
Another way to win war against Somali pirates is to try to defeat the pirates not from the sea, but from the shore. In Somalia since the early 90s there is no central authority, the government broke up a long time ago and the country lives in chaos. The world community should unite their efforts, and bring into Somalia peacekeeping force, this mission shall end the anarchy and the civil war in the country. At the same time it is necessary to invest in humanitarian projects that will create jobs for the local people, and the pirates will disappear by themselves. This would cost big amount of money, but unfortunately Somali pirates bring the world economy much more losses. In the end, for the sake of saving can simply help to come to power in Somalia, one of the local groups of radical Islamists.
This form of adapting anti-piracy looks pretty reasonable, and responsible and humane, the only thing that we should realize here is that in practice to realize all of this ideas is almost impossible. And it is not only because of the selfishness of the world powers. History shows that it is almost impossible to impose a stable regime in any country from the outside. United States, with the support of the United Nations have tried to restore peace in Somalia in 1993. It did not work: the troops had to withdraw, and the civil war continued the war. If it didn't work then, why would it work now?