Piracy, Dumping the Problem on Kenya — an Example of the Developed World’s Greed

09 December 2010

Developed nations have dumped expensive piracy prosecutions on Kenya

Kenya says it “ain’t gonna take it no more.”

Human avarice makes everything more complicated than it initially seems

Dealing with piracy, after the “bad” guys are caught, would seem to be a comparatively straight-forward task, wouldn’t it?

Some of the world’s most prestigious navies have spent millions of dollars ineffectually attempting to intercept these high seas hostage-taking, extortionist robber-kidnappers.

One would think the investment of vast sums of naval money would have motivated developed nations to create an effective plan for prosecuting (or disposing of) the pirates. In the absence of an effective “after we catch ‘em” plan, pirate-aimed naval excursions amount to taxpayer-funded pleasure cruises.

Yet, cowardice and greed have combined to make a mess of a relatively simple legal problem.

Two attorneys tell us what has been going on

Lawyers David B. Rivkin Jr. and Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky exposed the internationally-owned idiocy of current anti-piracy practice, in an article published yesterday in the Washington Post.

The authors noted that international agreements (reached or imposed in 2009) established Kenya as a good spot to prosecute piracies occurring in that region of the world’s seas. Kenya has done its best, but has run out of money.

The United Nation’s comparatively measly financial contribution has apparently not been enough to keep Kenyan courts (and presumably its holding prisons) out of the financial red zone.

In regard to this one-sided, rich versus poor, down-hill distribution of responsibility for piracy prosecutions, the authors said:

The practice of dumping pirates on Kenyan authorities reflects wealthier governments' extreme reluctance to try pirates in their own courts. . . .

Governments in the developed world balk at the high costs of trial and imprisonment, and the risk that defendants may be able to claim asylum in light of Somalia's endemic violence and humanitarian crisis.

The same governments that deploy warships to "combat" piracy in the Indian Ocean end up treating the pirates they capture with kid gloves. Hundreds have been disarmed and released to continue their depredations with automatic weapons and grenades.

The best long-term option would be establishing an international tribunal by the United Nations.

Let’s think about the absurdity of this

The stupidity of the developed world’s approach is reflected in:

(i) its waste of money on low-success naval interdictions of piracy,

(ii) followed by the failure to successfully punish/deter/get-rid-of those pirates who are captured,

(iii) combined with the financially inequitable imposition of the (apparently) proportionately few prosecutions that do occur onto Kenyan authorities.

The authors recommend that the developed world cowboy up:

[A] regime of effective impunity for pirates inevitably encourages instability and violence in one of the world's worst neighborhoods.

Short of dealing with pirates extrajudically (as the Russian navy reportedly did in at least one incident; pirates - now presumed dead - were said to have been "released" in mid-ocean without navigational equipment) . . . . the prosecution of "enemies" of all mankind must be placed on a more solid framework.

That solution should have been as obvious in 2009 as it is today.

The core problems?

Greed, cowardice, and an unwillingness to deal foresightedly with African poverty.

Wet scat sliding downhill.

PeteFree.com

Piracy, Dumping the Problem on Kenya — an Example of the Developed World’s Greed