International Law
Pirates in East Asia continued
Empire State University , Joey Bonura
However , there are some laws in place that are designed to combat piracy . The main set of guidelines comes from the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea . This document outlines all legal necessities that go into combatting robbery at sea in articles 100 to 107 . In article 101 of the UNCLOS , piracy is defined as : are being captured and then released . ( Eugene Kontorovich , 2009 ) The corruption in East Asia may be one of the reasons that this is happening . Overall , I think that piracy is going to continue being a problem in East Asia . There is a lot of corruption there and people don ’ t have much to loose if they are captured because they are often released .
Any illegal acts of violence or detention , or any act of depredation , committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft , and directed :
On the high seas , against another ship or aircraft , or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft ;
Against a ship , aircraft , persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State
Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft ;
Any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph ( a ) or ( b )
Since the pirate attacks happen overseas , it is often difficult to decide on jurisdiction for the case . They are permitted to use
universal jurisdiction in order to determine this . Universal jurisdiction “ allows states or International organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed , and regardless of the accused ' s nationality , country of residence , or any other relation with the prosecuting entity .” ( Wikipedia )
One of the problems with universal jurisdiction in Southeast Asia is that they do not qualify to initiate the universal jurisdiction under UNCLOS . “ UNCLOS requires that a crime occur on the high seas in order to be punishable as piracy .” ( Erik Barrios ) But most of the attacks are happening in the states territorial waters and they are not practicing it because they do not want to deal with the burdens of having a trial . Trials are very expensive so a lot of times the pirates
The articles of the UNCLOS may need to be redefined in order to allow easier opportunities for universal jurisdiction .
References
Barrios , Erik . " Casting a Wider Net : Addressing the Maritime Piracy Problem in Southeast Asia ." Law Digital Commons . N . p ., 5 Dec . 2005 . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// lawdigitalcommons . bc . edu / cgi / viewcontent . cgi ? article = 1078 & context = iclr >.
Kontorovich , Eugene . " Commentary : Invoke Universal Jurisdiction to Prosecute Pirates Worldwide ." Law . com . N . p ., 15 May 2009 . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// www . law . com / jsp / article . jsp ? id = 1202430706808 >.
" Piracy in South East Asia , A Growing Threat ." Idarat Maritime . N . p ., 13 July 2012 . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// www . idaratmaritime . com / wordpress /? p = 137 >.
" PREAMBLE TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA ." UN News Center . UN , n . d . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// www . un . org / depts / los / convention _ agreements / texts / unclos / part7 . htm >.
Shadbolt , Peter . " Asia ' s Sea Pirates Target Treasure of Marine Fuel ." CNN . Cable News Network , 08 Feb . 2013 . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// edition . cnn . com / 2013 / 02 / 08 / world / asia / asia-piracy >.
" Universal Jurisdiction ." Wikipedia . Wikimedia Foundation , 13 June 2013 . Web . 16 June 2013 . < http :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Universal _ jurisdiction >.