Looking for a Jurisdiction for Somali Pirates

Abstract:     
One of the surprising things about the resurge of piracy in the Gulf of Aden is that there is not yet a clear standard of conduct when suspected pirates are eventually caught. There are many cases in which pirates have been released by the military Navies that arrested them and other cases of excessive use of force. This article addresses the possibility of providing a fair trial to suspected pirates, also on the ground of new developments in establishing dedicated courts in states of the region. Judging suspected pirates presents a variety of problems associated to evidence collection, availability of witnesses and national laws to be applied. In spite of these difficulties, Western powers, which have invested so much in patrolling the Indian Ocean with their navies, have so far been unexpectedly reluctant to provide fair trials.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 12

Keywords: Piracy, Trial, Universal Jurisdiction, Human Rights, Kenya, International Law, Law of the Sea

working papers series