SECURITY COUNCIL SUGGESTS POSSIBLE TRIBUNALS TO DEAL WITH SOMALI PIRACY PROBLEM

SECURITY COUNCIL SUGGESTS POSSIBLE TRIBUNALS TO DEAL WITH SOMALI PIRACY
PROBLEM

The Security Council put forward today the possibility of establishing
international tribunals to try pirates, as its members called for tougher
legislation aimed at prosecuting and jailing suspects caught off the coast
of Somalia.

In a resolution unanimously adopted, the 15-member body appealed to all
States "to criminalize piracy under their domestic law and favourably
consider the prosecution of suspected, and imprisonment of convicted,
pirates apprehended off the coast of Somalia, consistent with applicable
international human rights law."

The Security Council also requested that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
present a report within three months on possible options for prosecuting and
imprisoning suspects in connection with piracy and armed robbery at sea in
the Horn of Africa.

In its resolution, members noted efforts by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) and other international organization and donors, including the
Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), "to enhance the
capacity of the judicial and the corrections systems in Somalia, Kenya,
Seychelles and other States in the region."

They also highlighted the role of the European Union (EU), the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other partners in bringing suspects
to justice, in cooperation with Somalia's Transitional Federal Government
(TFG).

Ongoing violence between the TFG, heavily backed by the African Union
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and other supporters, and rebel groups in
Somalia's capital of Mogadishu prevents piracy suspects from being tried or
imprisoned there. Some of the burden has shifted to neighbouring Kenya's
justice system.

The Security Council acknowledged "difficulties that Kenya encountered,
encouraging its Government to continue prosecuting suspects and imprisoning
convicted persons."

Today's meeting came just days after B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General
for Political Affairs and chair of the Board of the Trust Fund to Support
Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, unveiled
$2.1 million worth of projects planned to tackle the scourge.

The five projects being backed by the UN Trust Fund, which was set up in
January by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, are focused
largely on efforts to prosecute piracy suspects.