Piracy has been existing on  this Earth for  quite a while ever since the history of trade began. When anyone imagine about what piracy is, one would have the images of the grand sea, sail ship with a skeleton flag, pirate with a cutlass on his waist a parrot on his shoulder, and of course not to mention treasure. However, pirates in the 21st century,  instead  of  a  cutlass,  carry semi-automatic  weapons, instead of  seeking  for treasures drawn in the map, tend to randomly steal cash and victimize people. 

 

According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”), “Piracy” is defined as follows:

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“any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of

depredation, committed for (a) private ends by the

crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private

aircraft, and directed; (b) on the high seas against

(c) another ship or aircraft, or against persons or

property on board such ship or aircraft;

against a ship, aircraft, person or property in

(d) place outside the jurisdiction of any state” 

 

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Here, in order for the act of perpetrator to be included as “piracy” it must be committed for (a) private ends. This means the purpose of the piracy must have been committed for private purposes of the pirate himself or herself. Namely, if the purpose of the act was based on political cause or was acted on behalf of a state or its agency, the acts would not mount to piracy under international law. In addition, the act of piracy must have occurred (b) on the high seas. That is, if the piracy happened on a sea that is near land, the criminal act will not be within the scope of piracy. Further, the piracy must involve (c) at least two vessels, another ship or aircraft of the perpetrator and the ship or aircraft of the victim. That is, if there was only one vessel involved in the act, no matter what type of crimes happened, the criminal act will not be included as piracy. And lastly, the piracy must take (d) place outside the jurisdiction of any state. That is, if the criminal act took place within the normal jurisdiction of a state, the criminal act will not be within the scope of piracy as well. As it is, the definition of “piracy” has too many restrictions. Too many. And what makes matter worse, these international laws and conventions are not legally binding. That is to say, a state has no obligation to abide by the context within these laws and the conventions.

 

Yet, to alleviate the situation of piracy, UNCLOS has been making effort by providing, “all states shall cooperate to the fullest possible extent in the repression of piracy on the high seas or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any state” along with the United Nations General Assembly, which has repeatedly encouraged states to cooperate to address piracy and armed robbery at sea in its 64/71 Resolution which recognized “the crucial role of international cooperation at the global and regional levels in combating, in accordance with international law, threats to maritime security, including piracy”.

 

However, based on the report by International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre, ever since 2020, the incidents of piracy and armed robbery have been increasing steadily compared to the year of 2019. There are four regions in this globe where piracy is oftentimes reported: the Gulf of Guinea (i.e, which is reportedly infamous for its maritime kidnapping), the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Aden (i.e., which is reportedly infamous for its hijacking large cargo ships and robbery), and Southeast Asia. Then what could be the main reasons these acts of piracy exist. Even though the areas are spread in different parts of the world, there exist common reasons. First, is corruption within the governments that aids the piracy (i.e., permission of illegal trade), second is the unstable government that are incapable of responding to the piracy, third is the non-existence of law to cope with the piracy (i.e., weak anti-piracy measurements), and lastly is the exacerbating economic conditions that led people to engage in robbery through piracy. And, unfortunately, these reasons have been and are likely to be aggravated by the current COVID 19 pandemic situation which is directing the global economy to a downturn ever since the lockdown, creating a possibility of additional rise in piracy in other regions of the world. Thus, considering this increasing number of attacks through Piracy, it is important for the international community to understand the root causes of Piracy and its lack of involvement of law enforcement in order to deal with and gradually resolve this issue.

 

Piracy, which is regarded as an international crime, is under universal jurisdiction (i.e., a jurisdiction where every court has the authority to prosecute the perpetrators who have committed international crimes). There were only two piracy trials that was invoked (i.e., United States piracy prosecution in 2012) and convicted (i.e., Germany piracy trial in 2012) under the universal jurisdiction ever since the advent of piracy. As it is, there are too few trials compared to the number of piracy incidents happened until now. This could imply that the procedures under universal jurisdiction to actually bring the pirates to justice have a lot of weak points. Thus, it is crucial for the anti-piracy legal system to be adjusted to aid in marine security and promote the sustainable development of the shipping industry and the sea itself at this very time. Then what changes must be importantly first made to make it possible for the safety of the sea to become a reality. First, it is necessary to broaden and strengthen universal jurisdiction based on international law, by developing comprehensive legal regime to prosecute pirates and importantly eliminate the rooted cause of piracy, in order for the respective state to have the opportunity to prosecute the perpetrators of piracy in the courts of the regional partners with financial assistance if necessary. The other will be to reform “Piracy-related International Laws & Resolution” by adopting unambiguous words within the context, and drastically improve and update (i.e., aforementioned (a) – (d) must be reformed in order to protect the maritime fleets and for maritime security and to loosen up the restrictions and ameliorate the limitation) those contexts in order for the law to apply and be able to deal with the current piracy situation.

 

Like lands are, sea is another region where certain people reside whether it is temporary or permanent. Thus, the laws relevant to anti-piracy is indispensable to ensure a comparable degree of safety for all ships (i.e., cargo, tankers, fleets, cruise) and sailors within as in land. Additionally, it will be a duty to all crews to receive special training to counter the risks associated with piracy. However, there are limits. For this is not a drill. There must be a head to head consideration between nations to create a binding legal system to prosecute punish the pirates systematically under the legit universal jurisdiction while addressing and gradually resolving the root causes of piracy : poverty, corruption, conflict, and lack of good governance. Though our reality is the way it is, let’s not forget the images of the jolly pirates where the adventure within the beautiful grand sea they began was a fun and an exciting one, which we want to believe that is where our reality of new piracy dream will again head to sooner or later.

 

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* Reference *

 

a) Volodymyr Kyrychenko, “Piracy is a Land-Based Crime: Analysis of Definition, Drivers and Governmental Policy”, Journal of Maritime Studies and National Integration, Volume 2 (1) (November 2018)

 

b) Tara Helfman, The Dread Pirate Who? Challenges in Interpreting Treaties and Customary International Law in the United States, Tulane Law Review, Volume 90 (2016).

 

c) German Piracy Trial, International Crimes Database Project (2012) (Whether the accused be held criminally responsible for the acts of piracy).

 

d) A. Hays Butler, The Doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction: A Review of the Literature, Criminal Law Forum 11 (2000).

 

e) See A/RES/64/71 (Agenda item76(a)) adopted by the UNGA (December 2009).

 

f) See the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea & International Maritime Bureau.