US official urges carriers to contribute to pirate prosecutions

THE biggest challenge in fighting piracy off East Africa is prosecuting captured pirates, says the US State Department's assistant secretary for political and military affairs Andrew Shapiro.

Speaking to a recent Global Maritime Information Sharing Symposium, at National Defence University in Washington, DC, he said: "Funding is important, but so is the availability of witnesses who can provide testimony. Allowing competent authorities access to vessels, manifests and other records may be vital to successful prosecution. It is important that shipping companies support the prosecution of their attackers."

Many countries have inadequate or antiquated national laws, he said, and some states with adequate legal frameworks, lack the will to prosecute."

Mr Shapiro said the American decision to prosecute the suspected pirate captured during the Maersk Alabama hijacking demonstrates US resolve to prosecute when its own ships are attacked. "We continue to urge other affected states to prosecute as well," he said.

The US and the UK, he said, have arranged that Kenya prosecute and jail suspected pirates seized by naval forces when affected states are unable or unwilling to prosecute.

Some 33,000 commercial ships pass through the Gulf of Aden every year. In 2007, there were 19 pirate attacks on ships. In 2008, the number grew to 122. In the first nine months of 2009, the number has reached 140, he said.

"Piracy is no longer occurring just off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen. It has spread to an area of over a million square miles across the Gulf of Aden and the West Indian Ocean, and there have recently been pirate attacks in the Red Sea," said Mr Shapiro.

To defray costs of prosecutions, a fund has been established with contributions invited from the shipping industry and governments alike. The United Nations will administer the fund with the promise that the cost of administration will not exceed eight per cent of the contributions.

"This means that 92 cents of every donated dollar will directly support prosecution or related initiatives," he said.

Mr. Shapiro also said the US is searching for ways to disrupt the flow of money between pirates and their financial enablers.

"Pirates' financial flows operate outside formal institutions, through cash transactions in a complicated network built on personal relationships," he said. "We are working with other agency and international partners to find ways to disrupt the investment and distribution network of the pirates," said Mr. Shapiro.

(Source: www.schednet.com)