The United States Response To Piracy Off The Coast Of Somalia

Piracy is the theft, hijacking, or violent act committed at sea or from the sea without legal right. According to the article “When Piracy is Just Armed Robbery,” author Herbert I. Anyiam defines piracy as “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”(). After the collapse of the Somali government during the 1900s, piracy became a crime of opportunity. Somali fishermen turned to piracy as a mean of survival

In the article, “The United States Response to Piracy off the Coast of Somalia” states, “Fighting piracy is a vital element of the United States’ strategic objectives in Somalia, which are to help this stressed nation to regain stability, eliminate terrorism and respond to the humanitarian needs of its people” (U.S. Department of State, 2011). Nations worldwide have given supplies to the Horn of Africa hoping to reduce the amount of pirate attacks on their ships. Since the Somali pirates are negatively affecting the ships of the United States by attacking them, they have become a major supplier to the Somalis as

The U.N Security Council has issued a series of resolutions since 2008 to facilitate an international response, which is coordinated by a multilateral Contact Group. The Council has authorized international navies to counter piracy both in Somali territorial waters and ashore, with the consent of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and has also authorized, as an exemption to the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, support for the TFG security forces. Counter-piracy patrols by multinational naval forces near Somalia are intended to compliment mariners’ self-protection measures. Increased patrols and proactive efforts by ships have reduced attacks in the Gulf of Aden, but the U.N. Secretary-General warns that “while the effectiveness of naval disruption operations has increased and more pirates have been arrested and prosecuted, this has not stopped piracy. The trend of the increased levels of violence employed by the pirates as well as their expanding reach is disconcerting.” Some suggest that a perception of impunity exists among pirates and financiers; nine out of ten Somali pirates apprehended by naval patrols are reportedly released because no jurisdiction is prepared to prosecute them. The United States has sought to prevent, disrupt, and prosecute Somali piracy through a range of interagency and multilateral coordination and enforcement mechanisms. The Obama