With 90 percent of pirates captured by navies being released because nobody will put them on trial, Jack Lang, the United Nations special envoy on maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia last week proposed the setting up of two special courts inside the country and one in Tanzania to try suspected pirates. He also called for action against pirate ring leaders saying that “we know the names of some dozen of these masterminds, who receive the increasingly vast ransoms that fuel piracy.”
Mr. Lang, a well known French political figure, said the international community should work towards “Somaliazation” of responses to piracy by helping local authorities in the regions of Puntland and Somaliland to enhance their judicial and prison capacities in order to prosecute and jail captured pirates.
In his report to the Security Council, Mr. Lang also proposed the establishment, for a transitional period, of a Somali “extraterritorial jurisdiction court’ in the northern Tanzania town of Arusha to deal with piracy cases.
Mr.Lang’s report has the UN Document Number “/30” Thus far it does not appear to be available on line.
He told the Council, as well as a news conference following the meeting, that the pirates are becoming “masters of the Indian Ocean” with their increasingly sophisticated means of carrying out the criminal actions.
The cost of the measures he has proposed is estimated at about $25 million, a “relatively modest” expense compared to the estimated $7 billion which he said was the cost of piracy.
The international component of the cost to train judges, prosecutors, lawyers, prison guards is “essential,” Mr. Lang said, adding that the UN, the African Union, the European Union and other organizations should contribute.
He also proposed strengthening the forensic element of gathering evidence and the imposition of sanctions against the leaders of piracy gangs.
“We cannot be satisfied with the status quo,” he said, noting the “extreme gravity” of the situation which he said requires “solutions of extreme urgency.”
Mr. Lang said his report is the result of “extensive consultations with 50 States, international organizations, private companies and research institutes.”
Here are some extracts from Mr. Lang’s remarks to the Security Council:
January 30, 2011
