In 2017, 33 incidents of piracy and robbery at sea, successful or otherwise, were reported within 12 nautical miles of the coastline.
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According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which monitors crime at sea, global piracy and robbery at sea dipped to their lowest points in over two decades.
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A spokesman for the European Commission said that the actions had nothing "in common with traditional acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea".
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If all States in a region ratified (signed) the Hostage and SUA treaties, and implemented them in national law, the international community could combat piracy and armed robbery at sea.
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In the preamble of the resolution, there was concern from the Council at the ongoing threat of piracy and armed robbery at sea against humanitarian vessels delivering aid to Somalia, international navigation and fishing ships. Furthermore, it noted that this threat had extended beyond Somali territorial waters to the western Indian Ocean and children were involved. The Council recognised the instability in Somalia itself had contributed to the piracy issue and there was a need to address its underlying causes, particularly as the TFG had a limited capacity to deal with the problem. It noted that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea had established procedures for dealing with piracy and armed robbery at sea.
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The parties may also explore or undertake cooperative activities such as: marine environmental protection; marine scientific research; safety of navigation and communication at sea; search and rescue operations; and combating transnational crime, including but not limited to trafficking in illicit drugs, piracy, armed robbery at sea, and illegal traffic in arms. The declaration eases tensions, but falls short of a legally binding code of conduct.
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To facilitate the robbery at sea, Dickstein acquires the Stromberg, a sister ship of the Coparelli, and founds a bogus maritime company. He also arranges for the Coparelli to suffer a mechanical breakdown at sea, and for the crew to be almost completely disembarked. Through further complicated measures, Dickstein hopes to erase traces of the uranium theft. Israeli commandos aboard the Stromberg are to attack the Coparelli, but Hassan and his Fedayeen arrive first.
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Privateers have a commission in the form of a "letter of marque" authorising the capture of enemy ships, while pirates do not. Both are robbery at sea or sometimes attacks from the sea onto shore. In 937 Irish pirates sided with Scots, Vikings and Welsh in an invasion of England but were driven back by Athelstan. An Englishman called William Maurice was convicted of piracy in 1241 and is the first person known to have been hanged, drawn and quartered.
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Although there was extreme violence this did not meet the UNCLOS piracy definition of motivation, or mens rae, for 'private ends.' In the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking the ship was captured in the Mediterranean by Palestinian Extremists who were already on board.Geib, R. and Petrig, A. 2011, Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea: The Legal Framework for Counter-Piracy Operations in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, Oxford University Press, New York. Although there was violence on board the ship, because there were not 'two ships' this could not be seen as piracy.
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They had been found guilty of attempted kidnapping for extortion and illegal possession of firearms, in connection with 10 October 2011 attack and seizure of an Italian-owned cargo vessel, the Montecristo. On 1 April 2010, the was on patrol off the Somali coast when it took fire from men in a small skiff. After chasing down the skiff and its mothership, US military captured five Somalis. Judge Raymond A. Jackson, a Federal District Court judge in Norfolk, Virginia, threw out the piracy charge, which dates from enactment in 1819 when piracy was defined only as robbery at sea.
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All States were urged to cooperate with each other, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and, as appropriate, regional organizations and render assistance to vessels threatened by or under attack by pirates. Speaking prior to action on the draft, Indonesia’s representative emphasized the need for the draft to be consistent with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to avoid creating a basis for customary international law for the repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea. Actions envisaged in the resolution should only apply to the territorial waters of Somalia, based upon that country’s prior consent.
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The buzzword character enables international actors to discuss these new challenges without the need to define every potentially contested aspect of it. Some of the practical issues clustered under the term of maritime security include crimes such as piracy, armed robbery at sea, trafficking of people and illicit goods, illegal fishing or marine pollution. Often inter-state rivalry and violence extremism (maritime terrorism) is relevant. This includes the sea being described a central space for maritime security including as a “stage for geopolitical power projection, interstate warfare or militarized disputes, as a source of specific threats such as piracy, or as a connector between states that enables various phenomena from colonialism to globalization”.
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Security systems include near-real-time ship location devices. Furthermore, the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners' Associations has launched a database system to provide updated information on location, types of attacks, and outcomes. The system, called the "Information Sharing Centre (ISC)", is part of a 14-nation pact to combat pirates.. According to the Singapore Transport Ministry's Permanent Secretary, "Piracy is a transnational problem and this is the first time an international body has been set up to deal solely with the problem of piracy in Asia.". Violent, armed pirates robbing crews at sea create attention-getting headlines, but the direct economic impact of robbery at sea is small relative to the volume of global trade in the area.
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In the resolution, the 15-member council "condemns all acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea committed off the coast of the states of the Gulf of Guinea." According to reports by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA), piracy in the Gulf, which borders West African coastal countries from Ghana to Gabon, has been on the rise in recent years. Resolution 2018 "welcomes the intention to convene a summit of the Gulf of Guinea heads of state in order to consider a comprehensive response in the region and encourages the states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GCC) to develop a comprehensive strategy." Resolution 2018 also addressed cooperation between states and regional organizations and the shipping and insurance industries, saying that along with the IMO, these entities should work together to provide advice and guidance to ships navigating the gulf.
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The Security Council today strengthened international efforts to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, by expanding the mandate of States and regional organizations working with Somali officials towards that aim. Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1846 (2008), and acting under the Charter’s Chapter VII, the Council decided that during the next 12 months States and regional organizations cooperating with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) may enter Somalia’s territorial waters and use “all necessary means” – such as deploying naval vessels and military aircraft, as well as seizing and disposing of boats, vessels, arms and related equipment used for piracy – to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea off the Somali coast, in accordance with relevant international law. States and regional organizations cooperating with Somali authorities were also requested to provide the Council and the Secretary-General with a progress report on their actions within nine months. Further to that text, the council expressed its concern over the findings of a 20 November report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia that escalating ransom payments were fueling a growth in piracy off the Somali coast.
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