Who, if anyone, polices the seas and prosecute pirates?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The U.N. Security Council unanimously authorized the use of force against pirates even in sovereign Somali territory. These developments could be seen as a high point for a new international legal order. Yet the international response has failed to control the outbreak of piracy. The countries policing the Gulf of Aden refuse to attack and often even to arrest the pirates. According to the U.S. National Security Council, Somali-based piracy is flourishing because it is nearly consequence free.

The international law regarding piracy provides a uniquely favorable framework for its suppression. Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which for centuries applied only to piracy, any nation can capture and try pirates it finds on the high seas. Yet none of the countries patrolling the coast of Somalia have chosen to exercise this authority. The frigates routinely apprehend pirates in the act, only to let them go.

Pirates from Somalia have reaped millions of dollars by holding captured ships and their crews for ransom, but the number of attacks has recently fallen. The International Maritime Bureau, a watchdog group, says foreign naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden are partly responsible for a drop in pirate attacks.

The United States have stepped up prosecutions on piracy, but a few other countries are also making more efforts, such as the Germans and the Dutch. East African countries have not been able to keep up with the vast number of cases, but at one time they did make an effort. The hope is that other nations will assist in this worldwide crime problem.