Those folks who like to think that governments should be in charge of everything, are beside themselves today. You see, governments have proven sadly unable to stop piracy. (The real kind, not the stealing of songs from iTunes or videos from Hollywood kind.) Private navies combating Indian Ocean pirates.
Speaker: James Brown, Military Analyst, Lowy Institute
BROWN: Well there’s three different types, the first is the 140 companies now operating in the Indian Ocean providing private armed guards, who will basically ride shot gun on your commercial ship as you go through the piracy risk area. The second type are the companies that provide escort vessels, so these are the private patrol boats armed with heavy machine guns and they will go along with the vessel or a group of vessels and basically stop anyone that comes near them and looks like it’s going to interrupt their voyage. And third phenomenon we’re seeing as well is national militaries, particularly European militaries hiring out their soldiers for use on board ships, these are called vessel protection detachments. So there’s quite a lot of activity and quite a lot of new players moving around the Indian Ocean. [note from Z-Deb: Europe has a much bigger problem with this, so it makes sense they are more involved.]
Maritime piracy is down SUBSTANTIALLY since shipping companies finally realized that the governments of the world were either helpless to stop piracy, or were just not that interested in doing so. And when they realized that, they turned to the market for support.
But you would think that a decrease in the number of people taken hostage was a bad thing, if you listen to these hand-wringers. Is it perfect? No. But then, if you haven’t noticed, that perfect world is in a different area code. Nothing is perfect. But fewer people held hostage by pirates in the hell-hole that is Somalia (how long has it been since they had a “functioning government?”) is better than more people held hostage. Even if it means relying on “private military companies” – that’s weasel-words for “mercenary.”
Concerns that they are acting in a “legal vacuum” is smokescreen. If there was a legal framework that held sway in east Africa, we wouldn’t have a problem with piracy. So yes, there is a legal vacuum off the coast of Somalia. And off the coasts of Nigeria and Ghana, the Gulf of Guinea, and other places. I believe “lawless” and “legal vacuum” are just about equivalent in these cases.