Week 9 Read the IMSCNET’s document titled “Piracy off the Somali Coast”4 , located at http://www.imcsnet.org/imcs/docs/somalia_piracy. Write one paragraph Go to the U.S. Department of State’s Website...

Question:

Read the IMSCNET’s document titled “Piracy off the Somali Coast”4 , located at
http://www.imcsnet.org/imcs/docs/somalia_piracy.

Answer:
Apart from the shipping piracy that is predominantly highlighted by the western media, another
form of piracy is the massive illegal foreign fishing piracy which is equally destroying in terms
of environmental as well as economical standards. The Somali poachers are usually being
blamed for the indiscriminate methods of poaching deployed by them destroying the local
marine lives. However what is not looked upon is the double standards that some countries like
EU, Russia, India, Japan, Egypt and Yemen are being engaging in by protecting numerous
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing fleets from Europe, Arabia and the Far east
.These condemnation of fishing piracy can only be justified only if all the other nations are also
accounted for these practices. This has further led to illegal foreign marine poachers being
encouraged to continue their unfair practices .Due to the unfair treatment being dealt by the
Somali fishermen they are being targeted by IUU’s which carry unfair practices in the Somali
waters and sometimes also label the local fishermen to be pirates.



Question:

Go to the U.S. Department of State’s Website to read “Threats from Piracy off Coast of
Somalia”, located at http://www.state.gov/t/pm/ppa/piracy/c32661.htm.

Answer:
Piracy in Somalia was basically born out of the political, social and economic instability that
began in the 1990’s after the collapse of central government. A simple movement started by the
local fishermen in order to protect their waters from illegal dumping and overfishing transformed
into an organized crime whereby the leaders of small organizations started to engage in illegal
activities it proved to be a very lucrative option for the poor and destitute people of Somalia who
had no options left besides stealing . There has been a continuous growth in the attacks by the
pirates extending their attacks to the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia’s North coast.
This has extended to about 1 million square miles including the Gulf of Aden, West Indian ocean
and the red sea. Recent attacks by the pirates include their attack on the US-flagged commercial
vessels , thereby threatening international security , global economy and American citizens and
commercial interests .These attacks also pose a threat to environment by damaging the ships and
contaminating the seas , reefs and the coastal areas.


http://www.imcsnet.org/imcs/docs/somalia_piracy
http://www.state.gov/t/pm/ppa/piracy/c32661.htm
Question:
Go to the International Court of Justice Website located at http://www.icj-cij.org/, the
principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to examine the court’s statute to find out
who can bring cases before the court. Then, read the biographies of the court’s fifteen
members.


Answer:
Only the member states of the UN are eligible to file a case before the court. At present there are
192 UN member states. The court has no jurisdiction to deal with applications pertaining to
NGO’s, corporations or any private equity. It cannot help them in their dealings with the
authorities of any state.
The biographies of the 15 court members are as follows:
President
Peter Tomka (Slovakia):
Born: Banska Bystrica, Slovakia (1 June, 1956).
Education: PhD in international law, Charles University, Prague (1985)
Membership: From 6 February 2003, Vice President (6 Feb to 5 Jan, 2012), President (from 6
Feb)
Vice President
...