It seems the Danes are rather concerned about legal issues in their pursuit of Somali pirates...
Danish media reports pirates set free on the beach
...and the U.K. is reported to have given Rules of Engagement that do not allow actually taking on the pirates.
Foreign Office tells Royal Navy to not try to capture pirates
Key Point: legal, or legalistic arguments have become so confused regarding status of illegal combatants that national interests are being compromised.
Open Ground: Hang 'em from the yardarm, or give them court-appointed lawyers?
your thoughts?
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6 comments:
The legal statutes that let ship captains hang pirates (or mutineers, for that matter) pretty much gave individual ship captains sovereignty over their ships; too much power for an individual to wield when the ships themselves are potentially strategic weapons.
I think the author of EagleSpeak has it right, Article 105 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has all that a thoughtful, realistic ship captain needs to deal with the issue.
If any nation state finds itself dealing with too much maritime piracy, then it should enact laws giving captains & masters its flagged vessels power to deal with the situations more immediately. The UN convention would be satisfied, and that nation's laws would be satisfied.
Also, the author of EagleSpeak facetiously and rhetorically asks if the Danes are lacking yardarms. In truth, in fact, and not facetiously, yes, they do, until and unless the ships they use to apprehend pirates are square-rigged sailing vessels.
hang them high. Lawyers are useless in Lawless lands, and they donot deserve the protection of ours. if caught on our decks.
Scott
I wonder if one of the participants in this was recently let off a Danish ship?
@mr. bill
Indeed.
You know, the real problem of that ship being taken is not the T-72's, really. It is that there were crates of small arms, heavy machineguns, and 23mm autocannons that are presumed to already be disappearing into various warlords arsenals.
I saw that article about the Foreign Office and thought "what a strange order to give." You just let pirates take over? Interesting world we live in when evil is dominant.
It appears the cargo hasn't been off-loaded yet. According to this story, the pirates haven't made it to any port.
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