Somali Pirates Shoot Holes in Law of Sea Treaty
Thursday, April 9, 2009 7:01 PM
By: David A. Patten

Opponents of the controversial Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty say Wednesday’s hijacking of a cargo vessel off the coast of Somalia has laid bare a major flaw in the treaty’s language that cripples its effectiveness against pirates.

According to the United Nations, over 110 pirate attacks have occurred off the horn of Africa since 2007.

The Law of the Sea treaty, which has been approved by over 150 countries but not by the United States, specifies the jurisdictions that nations have over their territorial waters, including mineral rights. It also states that all countries have the right to seize and capture pirates.

Experts say however that what the convention clearly did not envision were failed nations such as Somalia, which are unable to police their own territorial waters.

The underlying assumption of the treaty was that countries would be ready, willing, and able to police their own waters. In the case of Somalia, whose surrounding waters have seen a 200 percent increase in piracy in the past two years, that clearly is not the case.

Somalia’s neighbor Kenya has stepped in try to fill the void. It has signed memoranda of understanding with the United States and European countries, agreeing to help prosecute any pirates captured in nearby waters.

Those agreements have drawn fire from international human rights, groups, however, who say Kenya’s judicial system cannot be trusted to deliver justice.

Kenya’s Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangula, told VOA News.com that international indifference over the fate of Somalia shoulders some of the blame.

“Partly, this menace is born out of our collective failure to resolve the problems of Somalia,â€