“PIRACY: A CONTINUING THREAT TO FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION"

Commander ing. Valentin Marian TOMA

Master degree proccess in the Command and Staff Faculty
of the National Defence University "Carol I"

„For whosoever commands the sea

commands the trade; whosoever commands the
trade of the world commands the riches of the
world, and consequently the world itself”.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH, “A Discourse of the

Invention of Ships, Anchors, Compass, &c.,” The Works
of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt., vol. 8, p. 325 (1829, reprinted
1965).

ABSTRACT
Maritime piracy is a threat to global security which is firmly anchored in international
criminal networks who, by means of its smuggling actions, armed attacks and terror lead to
destabilization of trade and economy worldwide. Sea trade within the dynamics of economy is
experiencing a period of rapid development and, for this reason, it is vital to develop itself in a safe
climate for ships and crews. International military participation in the fight against maritime piracy
should be considered as a prompt response to easing the situation in the area and to ensure freedom
of navigation. Success in eradicating piracy is the cooperation between the participating nations in
the fight against piracy and regional commitments with neighboring countries risk area directly
affected by piracy phenomenon. The effort of the international community is focused on discouraging
any form of armed attack directed on merchant vessels and maintain the control of the sea in areas
with high risk of piracy .

Keywords: pirates, economics, security, freedom of navigation, maritime operations.

BRIEF HISTORY OF PIRACY

Piracy is as old as navigation itself and represents a serious risk to navigation and safety at
sea. The pirates’ target was always the cargo of ships, sometimes ships themselves, passengers and
crew’s goods and money.
The word piracy has its roots in the Latin "pirata" which means robber of the seas and in
Greek "peirates" means thief, bandit, robber .
Greek mythology considers piracy a profession simillar to hunting and fishing, being in close
relation to slave trade and the plunder of merchant ships.
In the past, as nowadays, the states involved in maritime trade or engaged in protecting
commercial vessels against pirate attacks sign treaties of mutual support. An example in this regard is
the case of ancient Rome year 70 BC when pirates took control of a major supply routes at sea of the

1
Roman Empire. Roman Empire mobilized 500 warships that destroyed more than 1700 pirate ship
managing to restore the commercial traffic on the route.1
Another interesting episode concerns the kidnapping of Julius Caesar by pirates during a trip
in the year 74 BC. The pirates have demanded a ransom of 20 taels, but the king gave 50 taels for his
release. After the ransom was paid, Julius Caesar was taken to shore and released. The Emperor
wasted no time and ordered the pirates’ punishment by crucifixion.
Piracy has experienced a thriving period during the time when countries like Portugal, Spain,
and England extended their influence to other territories and continents. Commerce developed rapidly
and pirates identified opportunities of capturing goods. Pirates have not always robbed and captured
goods for themselves, great nations of those times often legalized piracy actions to capture ships that
transported goods from the New World and at the same time protected their merchant ships against
attacks by rival states. Corsairs, in this respect, have written a page of history in the evolution of the
phenomenon of piracy between the 16th and 19th century.
Despite the panic spread by corsairs, their humanity often emerged out of gestures like freeing
the slaves from attacked ships and integrating them into their caste. Golden age of piracy coexisted
with imperialism, the form of government during which commercial vessels, crammed with products
were intersecting on all navigation channels. In straits and near berths, security of fleets was provided
by warships employed by the signatory of the agreement on trade at sea.2
The area that was operated by Corsairs was the North West coast of Africa and were called
"the punishment of the merchant ships in the Mediterranean Sea". States in the area authorized and
even paid corsairs in the Mediterranean. Some states had no way to defend themselves against the
attacks and therefore agreed to pay for protection. Corsairs success is a prime example of obstacle in
the fight against piracy. For a long while conflicts of interest between states made it impossible to
launch a joint offensive against the Corsairs’ threat. Chapter Corsairs ended in 1830 when France
conquered Algeria and managed to neutralize pirate activities in the area.
Although piracy has officially lost its legitimacy due to the Sea Declaration of Paris in 1856
and the Act of Brussels through which slavery was abolished in 1980, it continues to survive through
its robbery and kidnapping acts nowadays.

MODERN FORMS OF PIRACY

Official piracy was first defined in 1937, when a group of experts of Nations Society codified
the international law defining piracy as "a series of acts of dispossession of goods and violence
against people for its own benefit at sea."
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS ), also known
as the Montego Bay Convention of 1982, piracy is defined as:
"...any of the following acts :
a) any act of violence, kidnapping and acts of plunder committed by
crew of a ship or against persons or private aircraft and directed :
- Against another ship or aircraft, or against persons on board of the ship on the high seas;
- Against a ship, persons or their property in an area not under the jurisdiction of any State;
b) any act of voluntary participation in the use of a vessel or aircraft, the authors knowing that
this ship is a pirate ship;
c) any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating the commission of the acts specified in
paragraphs a and b."

1
Munich Re,Piracy – Threat at sea
2
Pirateria – O nouă față modernă a criminalității organizate, Buletinul Statului Major al Forțelor Terestre nr.2 din 2010

2
 International Maritime Bureau of the International Chamber of Shipping defines piracy as "an
act of boarding or boarding attempt at any ship manifested with the intention or capacity to use force
in the commission of such acts."
International Chamber of Shipping (ICS ) classifies pirate attacks in three basic categories:
1. Low - Level Armed Robbery (LLAR). It is an assault with the intent to rob, usually
performed in the dark. Looters take goods that can be transported. Violence only occur if
there is crew resistance.
2. Medium - Level Armed Assault and Robbery (MLAAR). The attack is manifested through
violent or threatening violence. Attackers use force to get money and other goods
sometimes ship is detained. The attack is performed in less than an hour and seeks
confiscation of money and other property on board.
3. Major Criminal Hijack (MCHJ). The attack is planned in detail, details about the ship and
cargo are known. While some bullies keep the crew trapped in a compartment, others
transfer the load to another ship. At the end of the attack the ship is allowed to drift. In the
worst case the vessel is seized, the crew is kept on board, let on lifeboats and transferred to
another vessel. Captured ship can be repainted and recorded under another name and
another flag. These vessels are called "ghost ships" and it has been present since the 1980s
in Southeast Asia. In these cases, organized crime works hand in hand with local
authorities. Hijacking of ships and ransom request for ship and crew is frequently found
along the coast of Somalia.
Yachts are valuable targets for pirates intercepted in coastal regions which are far from the
trade routes. Increased piracy risk areas are: the Caribbean, Philipine, China Sea, Gulf of Aden and
the Somali coast. Recent attacks have been reported in the area of South America, Morocco,
Mauritania and Albania. It is difficult to estimate the number of attacks carried out each year, but
experts estimate the number of unknown attacks is that at least two times higher than those reported.

EFFECTS OF MARITIME PIRACY

Piracy produces direct and indirect economic effects among which one can include the
payment of redemptions of ships, destroying merchant ships, delaying delivery of goods to
beneficiaries. Because of piracy, the maritime industry estimates annual losses of 10 to 20 billion
dollars. The effect is observed in the raising of the insurance; for instance the insurance for a transport
increased from $500 in 2007 to $20,000 in 2009, reaching $35,000 in 2012. Shipping companies are
forced to pay more for safety when going through the routes considered dangerous or use alternate
detour routes. As an example, due to the increasing number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden,
some shipping companies have changed their routes around the Cape of Good Hope rising with 3,500
nautical miles the distance between Rotterdam and the Persian Gulf .
Another effect of piracy is to be found in the fishing industry in various parts of the world. 3
Tuna fishing in the southwest Indian Ocean dropped by 30 percent in 2011, which constituted a major
impact on some states such as Seychelles who accumulates 40% of its income from fishing.
Piracy is a threat to humanity by endangering the transport of humanitarian aid destined for
African countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia.
The economic costs of maritime piracy in December 2010 which examines the direct costs:
redemptions, insurance bonuses, diversion route around the Cape of Good Hope, maritime security
measures designed to deter, armed guards, carrying out of three naval missions, lawsuits, funding anti
-piracy organizations, humanitarian costs are estimated at 7-12 billion. Also, One Earth Foundation
3
Lauren Ploch, Piracy off the Horn off Africa

3
assessed redemptions in 2009-2010 to 830 million and the annual cost of equipment deterrent /
private armed guards to 360 million - 2.5 billion USD.
In terms of human costs of piracy in 2011 data was registered as it follows: over seven sailors
were killed and 39 were wounded by pirates. In 2012 (data updated on 24 September 2012), six
sailors were killed and 448 were taken hostages, recorded 225 attacks and 24 hijackings. On June 30,
2012, Somali pirates had seized 11 ships and 218 sailors were kept hostage. Since 2007, over 43
sailors were killed and 2653 were taken hostages during acts of piracy occurring off the Somali
coast.4
Despite measures taken by Somali pirates piracy acts have doubled from 2005 to 2011. 2009
was the third consecutive year of growth of such acts: from 239 in 2006 to 263 in 2007, 293 in 2008 ,
406 in 2009 to 445 in 2010. In the first half of 2011 there were 97 attacks against 35 of the same
month last year.

SOMALIA – THE MAIN POLE OF MODERN MARITIME PIRACY

Since 1991, Somalia is in a state of chaos generated by the civil war after the fall of Siyad
Barre 's regime. Since then there have been rare moments of peace and stability that did not last long,
Somalia is a generator of intra-state conflict. Amalgam divisions among tribes and clans and on ethnic
and religious frictions are the source of all domestic issues. Moreover Somalia experienced
colonization having its territory divided between France, Britain and Italy, like most African
countries, the process of colonization left deep wounds behind, such as in the case of Somaliland, a
territory that still has a de facto independence from the rest of the country.
From the outset of Somalia's foreign relations with the neighboring countries were not at all
cordial, especially in Ethiopia's Ogaden region which is dominated by ethnic Somalis. When the
Somali Republic was established in 1960, it seemed that parliamentary democracy and centralization
would have led to a decade of stability. Corruption and tensions between the north and south of the
country have disrupted the political situation and favored the coup of Siyad Barre in 1969.
Unfortunately it increased the state of chaos that broke out in the 90s. His political project was based
on socialist principles, but with a concept of a Great imperialist Somalia. This led to a disastrous war
with Ethiopia, for the control of Ogaden area, along with the communist revolution supported by the
Soviet Union and its allies, which first supported Mogadishu and then Addis Ababa.
U.S. support for the regime of President Barre could not fully cover his managerial failure.
Because the formation of a political party was forbidden, differences between clans or ethnic groups
were born, during which Barre did not creed anybody, but his presidential family and his clan who
occupied important roles in the government. This created an opportunity to intervene and support
Ethiopia Somali National Movement that emerged from Ishaps clan. The United Congress of Somalis
gathered all the opponents of the regime and joined the Somali National Movement, managing to
overthrow Barre in 1991. Since then, complete chaos was established in Somalia and Somaliland
region, which also broke away from Somalia in 1991, becaming independent de facto, even having its
own constitution in 2002. Another region of Somalia, Puntland has not gone so far, but with the
support of Egypt and Libya became autonomous in 1998. Both regions have benefited from stability
in comparison with the rest of the country, where despite attempts to restore order, the interests and
actions of local leaders deepened poverty, uncertainty and disorder.
The most important attempt to impose order from the international community since the war
which occurred in 1992, was when UNOSOM I tried to protect the humanitarian aid directed to the
suffering people of Somalia, but which was captured systematically by local leaders. The following
4
TEN/496 Pirateria maritimă consolidarea capacității de reacție a UE, Bruxelles, 3 decembrie 2012

4
year UNOSOM II assumed the leadership of Somalia forces already deployed in December 1992,
forces executing humanitarian mission called Operation Restore Hope. 5 Withdrawal of foreign forces
from Somali territory ended in 1995, being considered by the Somali population as the main enemy
and generator of instability. The objective of resolving the political situation in Somalia was never
achieved under UN shield.
In 1995 the two major factions of the Somali National Alliance of Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi
's Somali Salvation Alliance signed a peace agreement, despite UN opposition. "Cairo Declaration"
was signed in 1997 by most factions, but it does not lay the foundation for the restoration of the
Somali Republic, the country being divided by regions6. In the decade that followed better results
have been achieved by creating the National Transitional Government, which at first was
internationally recognized. Internationally, the government was agreed at Djibouti, but failed to
extend its jurisdiction in Mogadishu, not being approved by the majority of local leaders, or the
neighboring Ethiopia, a state which has an interest in keeping Somalia broken and threatened by
emerging Islam.
The second experiment of a National Transitional Government took place in 2004 and
suffered of the same problems as the previous government. Taking the largest part of the country by
the Islamist militias and the creation in mid-2006 of the Islamic Courts government, has brought
stability to the country for six months, but led to the Ethiopian intervention to remove the new power
and restoring the rights of the National Transitional Government led by President Abdullah Yusuf
being supported by the U.S.. In this way the country was thrown into a state of war and humanitarian
disaster7, Islamist regime collapsing rapidly under the Ethiopian intervention. However, the new
Transitional National Government found itself in the same situation as before the takeover by the
Islamist leadership, that is, a limited government at the Mogadishu area and far from having control
over the rest of the country, especially in Somaliland and Puntland .
But even more important is that the only government who could have brought stability to the
country after 15 years of chaos was overthrown and Somalia returned to its previous state, even
worse, becoming the ideal refuge for pirates.
In 2012 a new government was installed that tries to take measures for the stability of the
country and international confidence. The mission is very difficult because in this area where anarchy
has reigned for over 20 years and it is also difficult to create structures that would benefit from a staff
uninvolved in connection with piracy or terrorist Islamist groups like Al- Shabab. Because of poverty
and terror created by the Islamist groups much of the Somali population's migrated to Ethiopia and
Kenya. Life expectancy in Somalia is somewhere around 41 years and if we do a simple calculation
of the current Somali youth have not known any form of government, had no other rules than the
local leaders and had no means of information and education. From this point of view seems almost
impossible to normalize life in the Somalia.

PIRACY IN THE GULF OF ADEN - INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

Gulf of Aden is an important area of commercial vessel traffic, the area being transited by
approximately 22,000 merchant ships annually to and from the Suez Canal. Red Sea is a corridor
between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea which has as endpoints the Suez Canal and the
Gulf of Aden. Statistics show that 15% of global oil production and 20% of world trade passes

5
Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/restore_hope.htm accesat pe data de 12.09.13
6
Global Security, in http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/somalia-south.htm accesat la 12.09.13;
7
Gentleman, Jeffrey; Mazzetti, Mark, “Somalia’s Islamists and Ethiopia Gird for a War”.

5
through the Gulf of Aden. Moreover, 80% of the total traffic carried through the Gulf is aimed to
Europe.
Maritime routes linking, for example, Arab and American ports from the Atlantic Ocean are
either Suez or the Cape of Good Hope. The second route involves bypassing Africa and is longer by
2700 Nautical Miles and requests for extra costs of approximately $3.5 million, not taking into
account delays causing additional costs overall of about 25% of annual shipments. Choosing this
route not only affects the economies of the Americas, but also in the old continent or Egypt, a country
obviously affected because it owns the Suez Canal.
Instability in Somalia and Yemen is another aspect of the problem in the area, where
connections between fundamentalist groups and Al-Quida group are possible. It is possible that some
redemptions obtained by the pirates to fund conflicts between local leaders and the group's terrorist
activities mentioned above. Besides, the Puntland region of Somalia and Yemen are considered to be
sources of voluntary war of Taliban rebels in Afghanistan.
After September 11, 2001 naval group, which originated in the U.S. 5th Fleet adopted a
multinational structure patrol in the Horn of Africa as part of the Maritime Interdiction operations
under the name of CTF 150. Of the group there are ships belonging to countries whose purpose is to
combat terrorism and promote international stability in the region.
Range of CTF 150 was extended beyond the Horn of Africa to the shores of the Strait of
Hormuz and Pakistan. The most important result of maritime interdiction operation was recorded with
the discovery by the Spanish frigate " Navarra " of 15 SCUD missiles on board of the North Korean
"So San" addresed to Yemen.
In October 2008 the disclosure document at Chatham House was issued on the phenomenon
of piracy in the Somali coast, becaming the basic document on a topic that was not discussed in detail
at a high level.
By 2007 it would not see an outbreak of piracy. Indeed, after the lowering from 2004, the
number of attacks rose steadily between 2007 and 2008 and, more than that, have doubled on the
coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. Alarm signals on multiplication of piracy acts in 2007 were
the most important to date, although the positive results of the Straits of Malacca, at the time the
scariest place of maritime trade, induced current of opinion in favor of reducing risk in the Gulf
Aden.8 2009 Annual Report of the global security threats highlighted propagation trend of piracy
cases. A significant increase occurred between 2004 and 2005, from 2 cases to 35, but with the
overthrow of the Islamist government in charge of Somalia following the Ethiopian intervention in
late 2006, actively supported by the United States 9, chaos restored in Somalia. During the following
period, 31 pirate attacks have taken place in the Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates still have not fully
covered the bay. The highlight that changed the situation in the Gulf of Aden was marked in 2008,
when the Somali pirates have acted in the whole bay. The figures show that between January and
September 2007 only 10 pirate attacks were performed, but in the same period of 2008, an
unprecedented wave of attacks was recorded reaching 51 attacks, raising four times compared to past
years. After this period 92 of the 36 successful attacks were counted10.
It is necessary to outline the evolution of equipment and weapons available to the pirates that
gave greater power and allowed them greater enforcement actions never happened before.
8
Nizza, Mike: “After a Dip in Attacks, Pirates Mount a Comeback”, New York Times, October in
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/after-a-dip-in-attacks-pirates-mount-a-comeback/ .
9
Stevenson, Jonathan: “A Fleeting Victory”, New York Times, 14 January 2007.
10
“La vigilancia internacional hace aguas ante los piratas de Somalia”, El País, 18 de noviembre de 2008,
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/vigilancia/internacional/hace/aguas/piratas/Somalia/elpepuint/2008 accesat
la 12.09.13;

6
 The main innovation is the use of "mother ships" instead of using only high-speed boats that
limited their action only in the coast. Since 2007 "mother ships" have been carrying boats (skiffs) at
great distances from the shore to capture ships in the Gulf of Aden. The advantage of these ships is
that they are mistaken for fishing ships, making their identification more difficult. Furthermore
Somali pirates use weapons which is constantly improved by using not only individual infantry
weapons, and grenades that are much more effective than automatic weapons. Moreover they use
GPS receivers for navigation and to determine distances to the pirated vessels on suspicion of being
connected to the information network ports in Asia, Europe and the Gulf countries 11. The presence of
warships in the area reduces the range of the pirates because the pirate boat maneuvering speed is
around 25 knots speed attainable by most frigates and destroyers.
Despite this fact, handling the boats used by pirates has the advantage of avoiding direct
contact with naval vessels, furthermore the execution of fire on them is limited by international law,
which is permitted only in cases of self defense12. Moreover pirates have the ability to adapt to the
increasingly more stringent measures taken against them. They adopted new tactics of attack in
groups of up to 10 or even 20 crafts, circling the ship to be captured and thus making it more difficult
to defend. To extend their autonomy and action area pirates also use boats for fuel replenishment at
great distances from the coast, allowing them to cover more areas located east off the island of
Socotra in the Indian Ocean. As of modus operandi, Somali pirates seize ship with its crew and given
that security is better ensured, they try kidnapping people on board.
As a first step to prevent piracy, the International Maritime Bureau recommended that vessels
transiting the Gulf of Aden to stay away from Somali coast at a distance of less than 500 miles.
International organizations such as NATO and the European Union took the strongest measures
against piracy deploying naval forces in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast. NATO launched
Ocean Provider in 2008, which later became Ocean Shield. Also in order to integrate efforts against
piracy of other countries that are not part of NATO and act together in the Gulf of Aden, it has been
created an international force called Combined Task Force 151 which includes countries such as
USA, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Qatar, UK, Japan, Canada, Bahrain, Singapore,
UAE, etc.
A challenge for the EU maritime actions allowed for the creation of the first community
organization in November 2008 under the name of Atalanta. EU naval mission is part of the European
Naval Force (Navrofor) and has a staff of about 2,000 people. Atalanta was created to materialize
UNSC Resolutions 1814 , 1816 , 1838 , 1846 (2008 ) 1918 (2009) and 1950 ( 2010).
In 2012 Operation Atalanta was extended until December 2014. The aims of this operation are
to protect ships passing through the area, escorting of ships with humanitarian aid of the World Food
Programme & African Union for Somalia and monitoring fishing around the coasts of Somalia.
These are not the only forces acting against piracy in the region. Countries such as Russia,
Turkey, Japan sent warships to escort commercial vessels performing under their flag in convoy
system during transit through the Gulf of Aden.
All these measures taken to deter and combat piracy at sea is a very expensive extra financial
effort of the participating countries that require decisive action of the international community to
resolve the crisis in the Indian Ocean.

11
Middleton, Roger: “Piracy in Somalia, Threatening global trade, feeding local wars”, Chatham House, Briefing Paper,
Africa Programme (October 2008), p. 6.
12
Rizzi, Andrea: “Obstáculos legales para combatir el fenómeno”, El Pais, 19 November 2008,
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Obstaculos/legales/combatir/fenomeno/elpepiint/20081119elpepiint_2/Tes?
print=1.

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 Eradicating piracy in the area of Somalia is a big challenge for international organizations
because of the large area requiring to be monitored which demands for the presence in the area of a
number of vessels at least triple than today. Instability and chronic poverty for over 20 years have
forced many Somalis to renounce almost to any business or production and become pirates, especially
if their previous work was fishery.
Another big problem is the classification of pirate vessels. Somali fishermen use the same
type of boats and all have weapons on them. Non-disclosure of relevant evidence (ladders, ropes,
grenade launchers) cannot lead to the classification of fishing boats that are used as for piracy actions
and therefore legal actions against them is not permitted by international law.

FIGHT AGAINST MARITIME PIRACY

The action to combat piracy can be subdivided into three categories of measures: the
preventive ones aimed to convince the population to abandon this idea, offensive measures that are
effective for combating piracy, preventing the release of their new attacks and defensive measures
actions designed to protect shipping against pirates.
According to the history of piracy at sea, it can be said that piracy often flourished in the
aftermath of conflicts of greater or lesser intensity, especially in naval clashes. One explanation for
this may be given by the fact that in the past pirates who acted as military sailors during the war,
immediately after the signing of the peace agreement, went back to their acts of piracy.
Legal reforms can be arguments for combating piracy in two ways: establishing legal tools to
implement measures to deter potential pirates, but also to improve the legal and judicial system code.
This would of course lead to better training of border police and coast guard, and to a reform of the
legal and penal system.
Pirates’ organizations in general, but especially those organized on a large scale, are
dependent on network communications, information and shore-based logistics and to take effective
measures against organizations require a good knowledge of the dependence on those networks.
Moreover, given the fact that the phenomenon is not limited to the national level often requires action
at the regional level.
Pirates’ deprivation of potential targets can of course be another solution to eradicate it, at
least in principle. For this, one can use alternative shipping routes, thus avoiding the key points of
passage and narrow passages such as the Straits of Southeast Asia and the Gulf of Aden, but
additional costs argument is almost always decisive, given the fact that, any pirates attack would
mean lower losses. This issue of additional costs can be easily solved by market carriers and
insurance companies.
At the strategic level , the offensive measures involve basically naval operations whose aim is
to sink the ships used for piracy at sea and air-ground operations to destroy pirate camp and shore
-based fuel depots, as it often happened in the past. However nowadays pirates use small craft that are
masked or replaced easily at a low cost . But in this case it may have some reason to sink the "mother
ship."
The attack on the coastal communities, especially the kick from external actors, and that it
would in most cases mean the destruction of civilian targets, would be a violation of international law,
against human rights conventions and the law of armed conflict.
At tactical level, offensive operations would mean the carrying out of preventive attacks on
pirates anticipating their attempts to attack, supposing there is clear evidence of pirates, most likely
being insufficient conviction of the court in the case of the prosecution of captured pirates. Naturally
there is enough evidence in the cases of already executed attacks by pirates, even if they remain or

8
not on board of attacked ship. However, the storming of a ship already captured by pirates would
endanger the captured crew while the pirates aim is to obtain financial benefits and not murdering
people, such as in the case of terrorists. Therefore shipping organizations advise for avoiding the use
of weapons by crews on which a pirate attack is underway.
From the point of view of the most effective defensive measure is to maintain a high level of
alert in districts where pirate attacks have been reported, but given the number of crew members
decreases, fatigue accumulation decreases alertness, especially at night when most attacks happen.
However on boar of ships considered potential victims of piracy one can take a series of measures
such as the installation of fire use to prevent attacks, advanced warning systems, the "false" sentinels
on the freeboard of the ship, and even electric barbed wire fence. Of course crews can be trained in
the use of firearms or protective boarding teams, a method which is increasingly used by ship-owners,
but this leads to risk bloodshed.
Another solution is the use of coast guard vessels and warships in general in areas with high
risk of pirate attack both to deter pirates and to protect maritime traffic by means of escorting
convoys. However, the deployment of military marine forces gives rise to costs, and hence it is a
suitable solution for certain areas only for a short period of time. Systematically research flight runs
along the Somali coast in order to discover the new camps or fuel depots indication of the prospect of
a new attack in the area. All forces involved in combating piracy exchange information permanently
trying to create a more real danger zones and transmit the coordinates to the civilian naval authorities
where they observed suspicious activity.
Involving as many countries as possible in the fight against maritime piracy in particular the
countries from the pirates’ action area of such as Tanzania, Kenya, Seychelles, Djibouti, Oman, South
Africa is a priority for international organizations. These states can provide the necessary support for
the prosecution, conviction and imprisonment of people who were detained as a result of piracy acts.
In this way funds were allocated by the European Union to build prisons but the incarceration of
pirates sites prove to be insufficient and the costs of maintenance and security proved beyond the
means of African countries. Currently efforts are underway to conclude new international agreements
to support joint efforts to combat piracy. Harmonization of international law with the law of the
countries which are at risk is developed quite difficult due to cultural differences and legal African
states.
As a result of the actions of NATO and the European Union combined with the activities of
other international actors in the past year no vessel has been pirated. The results of 2012 are very
encouraging but further action at sea and air requires significant resources provided by States
Member’s contribution. The solution to reduce the resources allocated to combat piracy can be to
create an area of stability within Somalia territory with a legitimate government and with a proper
infrastructure which would deter acts of piracy.

Bibliography:
1. Munich Re,Piracy – Threat at sea

9
2. Pirateria – O nouă față modernă a criminalității organizate, Buletinul Statului Major al
Forțelor Terestre nr.2 din 2010
3. Lauren Ploch, Piracy off the Horn off Africa
4. TEN/496 Pirateria maritimă consolidarea capacității de reacție a UE, Bruxelles, 3 decembrie
2012;
5. Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/restore_hope.htm
6. Global Security, in http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/somalia-south.htm
7. Gentleman, Jeffrey; Mazzetti, Mark, “Somalia’s Islamists and Ethiopia Gird for a War”.
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in http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/16/after-a-dip-in-attacks-pirates-mount-a-
comeback/ .
9. Stevenson, Jonathan: “A Fleeting Victory”, New York Times, 14 January 2007 “La vigilancia
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11. Middleton, Roger: “Piracy in Somalia, Threatening global trade, feeding local wars”,
Chatham House, Briefing Paper, Africa Programme (October 2008), p. 6.
12. Rizzi, Andrea: “Obstáculos legales para combatir el fenómeno”, El Pais, 19 November 2008.

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