During
our discussion in class yesterday I was torn between whether I believed the
Somali pirates have a legitimate claim to piracy or not. On the one hand in my
opinion Somali has been neglected on a global scale in terms of political and
economic infrastructure, which has lead to food and environmental issues. However does
this permit them to commit these acts of piracy and should they be considered
local heroes? After researching this topic more in depth I have come to the
conclusion that while there are legitimate issues in Somali, I do not think the
pirate’s actions are legitimate.
The first reason is a point that was brought up in class
– does Somali actually have claims to these waters they are pirating in? The main
issue in question is if the government is actually legitimate. This is
debatable because Somali government has been very turbulent, yet the United
States has acknowledged the government most recently in 2012 when the president
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was elected by the Somali parliament. Assuming the
country does have claims to these waters, we must abide to international
guidelines of what this means. According to precedent a country has a claim to waters
up to 200 nautical miles from their land. As we saw in the map of attacks in
class a majority of these attacks were occurring past this 200-mile mark and
therefore not within Somali’s territory. This is only scratching the surface of
the issue.
Another reason the pirate’s actions are not legitimate is
because their reasoning does not line up with their actions. They claim they
are committing piracy because of illegal environmental degradation and a lack
of food. However according to the World Food Programme, in 2007 one of their
ships was attacked after delivering food assistance to the Somali port of
Merka. This ship was not committing a crime against the environment and furthermore was there to help Somali in
the very problem that these pirates are citing. By attacking this ship these
pirates were in no way helping Somali. In fact WFP’s Executive Director stated,
“this attack underscores the
growing problem of piracy off Somalia which, if unresolved, will sever the main
artery of food assistance to the country”. If assistance and food for their
country is actually what these pirate’s are looking for they will not achieve
this by attacking aid ships.
According to the Los Angeles Times in another instance
Somali pirates hijacked the yacht of an American couple distributing Bibles. The
United States Navy tried to negotiate the release of these individuals but they
were eventually murdered. This completely contradicts the article we read for class
in which the Somali pirate’s representative states they do not have the
intention of hurting anyone and just want food. And again, the Americans were
not harming the environment.
I think both of these instances show that the Somali
pirate’s motives are not for the best interests of their country. Instead I
believe they are for the personal gain of the individual pirates. Their
previous actions have exhibited this, as well as data collected by various
researchers. According to Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies, “as the ransoms rise, so do the number of attacks”.
From this data we can conclude that the pirate’s do have a significant interest
in the money they receive from these attacks, as opposed to the benefits for
their country.
I also think it is important to note that even if they
were committing this piracy for the actual reasons they say, I do not think it
is legitimate. In my personal belief violence, kidnapping and murder is not an
appropriate way to respond to any type of unrest. Think about it this way: if a homeless man holds you hostage in your
house because he has no money to live off of is he right for doing so? I think
we would all agree this is in no way acceptable. In addition to being immoral,
this type of action also draws attention away from the action problems of the
country. Instead of helping Somali, the international concern is focused on how
to stop this “terrorist organization”. All in all I believe these pirates are
more concerned with their individual interests and in the process are making
the issues within Somali worse.
However I still think western countries can do more to
improve our response to these pirates. We need to supply more food aid and help
Somali create its own government and police force so they can start to solve
the lack of nutrition and environmental degradation. Once these issues are
improving the pirate’s claims will become increasingly invalidated amongst the
Somali people and the government will be able to enforce themselves over these
pirates.
1.
Finnegan, Michael. "Somali Pirates Hijack Yacht of U.S. Couple on Bible
Mission." Los Angeles Times. 19 Feb. 2011.
2. May,
Clifford D. "Do Somali Pirates Have Legit Gripe?" Daily Republic. 27
July 2011.
3.
"World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide." Somalia. 25 Nov.
2014.
I have a couple of thoughts/questions. First, could the lack of information available to the Somali pirates be contributing to the problem? Perhaps they didn't know that the ship they were hijacking was carrying aid to their country until after they attacked it? Perhaps they weren't able to properly communicate with the people on the yacht which resulted in the deaths of the hostages rather than a peaceful resolution? Second, despite the near universal idea of violence being unacceptable, it is often the only option available. If a person is dying from deprivation and the world can help but refuses to, their only option may be to resort to violence. This isn't an argument that is meant to condone their actions, it is merely meant to point out their lack of options so that people can understand that there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed and not just a need to pass judgement and deliver retribution. Third, just because a country is in turmoil and hasn't been able to monitor their waters and territory doesn't give license to the rest of the world to name it a commons and start pillaging it. It should be possible to respect what should be their territorial waters even if their is not a legal document that names them as such, the fact that this isn't actually the case is a testament to the greed of other nations that are taking advantage of Somalia's vulnerability. I hope that the countries at fault will be forced to pay reparations when Somalia is finally stabilized but that isn't likely. Its definitely an unfortunate situation that is being made worse by peoples poor choices.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think a lack of information is contributing to the problem. I think many of the pirates are controlled by higher up officials, which have now become corrupt - while many of the pirates think they are actually doing these acts in the best interest of their country. I also think that, yes, they don't know the identification of the different ships they are attacking. This is a major part of the issue. You can't just attack ships that are in your waters who are perfectly innocent, this is another reason why I believe their claim to piracy is not legitimate. To answer your next question, even if communication was not available the whole premise of their movement is that they do not wish to kill other human beings. Therefore I find it hard to believe that it was that hard to find a peaceful resolution when 1) the people were innocent 2) they have repetitively said they wish things to remain peaceful. I also understand that often times violence is thought of as the only option. But in this case it is clearly not working. Attention is being brought towards Somali pirates, but it is in a negative light. Like I have said several times they are being labeled "terrorists". If their goal is truly to stop environmental degradation and not gain profits than they are not achieving their goal. Again this may because many of them do not have all the information about this situation to understand this. I think negotiations with the leaders of these pirates need to be made clear - we will not help solve the environmental problems when they are committing violent acts. If this is made clear, the pirates simply cannot hide behind that as a reason for their actions.
DeleteI think you overlook the fact that it may have been legitimate at some point least. It could be that dumping and overfishing were what started this problem, but then once piracy was proven to be profitable, it was continued for economic gain. Also, we know little about where the profits go and who they fund. It's risky to dismiss their claim as illegitimate because of the actions they lead to, especially when the environmental claim is used by other countries and we hear them out.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point. Just to be clear, I do think they are environmental problems in Somalia and I do think it is possible that environmental issues were what started the piracy. But I am arguing that currently their piracy does not really help out their environment; instead it labels them as terrorists and many countries do not want to negotiate with them. Therefore their continuation of the piracy, while they claim is for the environment, does not really add up. Environment concerns seem to be a facade to their piracy, while they are now actually more concerned with making profits. I also think in a lot of the countries where we respond to their environmental concerns they are not committing violent acts against our people.
DeleteI agree that their claims of environmental degradation are legitimate as well. I also agree that their concerns are being ignored by the rest of the world, especially developed countries that are contributing to these environmental problems. However my point is that by committing piracy they are not helping solve this issue. Instead they are labeled pirates and terrorists, which makes countries even less willing to work with them. I do admit that it might scare away some ships from entering their waters but it doesn't seem to have had a major impact so far. I honestly do not know what help alleviate this issue and make the rest of the world start to care, I am just making the argument that what they are doing now is not helpful and is actually doing more harm than good.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important to note that whether someone is a Somali pirate or a citizen of the United States there are always going to be good people and bad people. I think the examples you used are two examples of Somali pirates that are the worst of the worst. While I completely agree that their actions were purely for the benefit of themselves, I do not think you can make a blanket statement and say all Somali pirates are doing these things for individual gain. There may be other pirates who end up distributing the rewards of their actions to their communities, families, and friends. Again, as I have said in previous comments, I know that all of these actions are not necessarily moral, but I do think there are a lot of pirates acting on claims that I think are legitamate.
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