Piracy

Piracy

Admiralty Law
May 10, 2010
Ryan Moorehead

The shipping industry is one of the most important industries in existence. In fact, roughly 90% of the world’s trade is carried out by the international shipping industry. As such, it should be as well protected as possible from those attempting to take advantage of its many offerings. Seeing as though the shipping industry is international by nature, it is regulated by a number of United Nation agencies, most notably being the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO’s main tasks include the regulation of safety standards, environmental concerns, legal matters, the efficiency of shipping, and, most recently maritime security. One of the main issues in regards to maritime security has to do with piracy.
In order to begin combating piracy, it should first be defined. The IMO defines piracy in article 101 of the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) as any of the following acts:
(a) | 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: |
  | (i) | on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship
or aircraft; |
  | (ii) | against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State; |
(b) | 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; |
(c) | any act inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in sub-paragraph (a) or (b).”(www.imo.org) |

The existence of pirates dates back to when people first began sailing the high seas, which goes back to the days of the Egyptians. Until relatively recently, there had been little to no legislation passed to help protect against acts of piracy. In 1998 the IMO took the first step towards attempting to...