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Introductory Remarks by Milena Sterio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2017

Milena Sterio
Milena Sterio*
Affiliation:
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
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Abstract

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Type
Transnational Piracy: To Pay or to Prosecute?
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 105 , 2011 , pp. 543 - 546
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2011

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References

1 Some of the more spectacular pirate attacks include the 2008 attack on the Faina, carrying Russian tanks and ammunition; the attack on the super-tanker Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of oil; the attack on the U.S. ship, Maersk Alabama, resulting in a day-long standoff in the Indian Ocean between the pirates and the U.S. navy; and the attacks on a Danish yacht and on an American yacht in 2011. Kraska, James & Wilson, Brian, Fighting Pirates: The Pen and the Sword, 25 World Pol’y J. 41, 42 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kraska, James & Wilson, Brian, Piracy Repression, Partnering and the Law, 40 J. Mar. L. & Com. 43 (2009)Google Scholar.

2 See, e.g., Sterio, Milena, The Somali Piracy Problem: A Global Puzzle Necessitating a Global Solution, 59 Am. U. L. Rev. 1449, 1450 (2010)Google Scholar.

3 For example, in February of this year, Somali pirates hijacked a private yacht with four Americans onboard; all four Americans were killed by the pirates in the ensuing days.

4 Kraska & Wilson, Pen and Sword, supra note 1, at 41.

5 Clayton, Jonathan, Somalia’s Secret Dumps of Toxic Waste Washed Ashore by Tsunami, Times (London), Mar. 4, 2005 Google ScholarPubMed, available at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article418665.ece; Hari, Johann, You Are Being Lied to About Pirates, Independent, Jan. 5, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html.

6 See, e.g., Ahmed, Mohamed, Pirate Stock Exchange Helps Fund Hijackings, Fin. Post (Canada), Dec. 1, 2009 Google Scholar, available at http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story.html?id=2289558.

7 Kontorovich, Eugene, International Legal Responses to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, ASIL Insights, Feb. 6, 2009 Google Scholar, http://www.asil.org/insights090206.cfm.

8 Monique K. Hilley, Navy, Cg Training to Combat Piracy, Navy News, Jan. 20, 2009, available at http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/navy-cg-training-to-combat-piracy,html?col=l 186032311124.

9 For example, a NATO ship released pirates after having successfully detained them, citing difficulty in determin ing where to transfer pirates for detention and prosecution. See, e.g., Daniel Wallis, NATO Frees 20 Hostages; Pirates Seize Belgian Ship, Reuters, Apr. 18, 2009, available at http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLI11637320090418.

10 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ait. 105, Oct. 7, 1982, 1833 U.N.T.S. 41-42.

11 For the position that UNCLOS prohibits transfers to third countries for the purposes of pirate prosecution, see, e.g., Kontorovich, supra note 7; for the position that UNCLOS allows for such transfers, see, e.g., Azubuike, Lawrence, International Law Regime against Piracy, 15 Ann. Surv. Int’l & Comp. L. 43, 54-55 (2009)Google Scholar; see also Roach, J. Ashley, Countering Piracy off Somalia: International Law and International Institutions, 104 Am. J. Int’l L. 397, 404 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 See, e.g., Gathii, James Thuo, Kenya’s Piracy Prosecutions, 104 Am. J. Int’l L. 416, 430-34 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (discussing the overall fairness of pirate prosecutions in the Kenyan courts and criticizing, inter alia, the delays in the proceedings associated with lengthy pre-trial detentions, ill treatment of pirates by prison authorities, and the relocation of witnesses to faraway countries).

13 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA), Mar. 10, 1988, 1678 U.N.T.S. 221.

14 Id., art. 3.

15 International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages, Dec. 17, 1979, 1316 U.N.T.S. 205; International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, Dec. 9, 1999, 39 I.L.M. 270 (2000); United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Nov. 15, 2000, 2225 U.N.T.S. 209.