Looking for a Jurisdiction for Somali Pirates |
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| Authors: | DANIELE ARCHIBUGI MARINA CHIARUGI |
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| Institution: | 1. Professor of Innovation, Governance and Public Policy at Birkbeck College, London, and a director at the Italian National Research Council.;2. Doctoral student at the Faculty of Political Science of Sapienza University of Rome. |
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| Abstract: | One of the surprising things about the resurgence 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. |
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| Keywords: | piracy trial universal jurisdiction human rights Kenya international law Law of the Sea |
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