International Piracy Tribunal

In the past few years there has been much more worldwide awareness of the pirates that attack ships off the coast of Africa. It has become a much more respectable issue in that it no longer brings Captain Hook to mind. The pirates are very real and carry machine guns and are very knowledgeable about the ships they are attacking. Sadly it has become a multimillion dollar industry. These pirates are very organized and know exactly what they want. Many times they even ask for specific shipping containers to be opened and are not looking to take over the whole ship. Most of them are not afraid of the repercussions since the crews of containerships are rarely ever heavily armed.

The problem that we are now facing as a global economy is that these pirates are getting away with their crimes and therefore getting more brazen in their attempts. The international community has put specific pressure on the Kenyan government to prosecute these rebels, but as with other nations in this area, there are too many instances and the courts are overwhelmed. More recently there has been a push to create an international piracy tribunal that could handle these cases. Not only would this take the pressure off the African countries that lack the resources to completely handle the problem, but it will better balance the weight of the financial burden since these are largely poorer nations. Countries like Russia have stepped up to the plate to make sure something is done about this problem. Hopefully an international piracy tribunal will bring this to a global level and stop these rebels from further affecting the shipping industry.