By Timothy Nsubuga

New York: An international tribunal set up by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter is among several options to prosecute pirates operating off the Somali coast; UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has suggested.

Piracy attacks have escalated worldwide in recent years owing to the increasing number of incidents off of the coast of Somalia since the overthrow of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991.  In 2008, 111 vessels were attacked and that number nearly doubled to 217 in 2009.

Although the number of incidents continues to be high, increased naval patrols off the Horn of Africa and in the Gulf of Aden have helped reduce the success rate of pirate attacks.  In spite of this positive development, as of May, 450 people were still being held hostage on ships captured by pirates off the Somali coast.

One of the seven options put forward by Ban Ki-moon has in fact already been operational in Kenya where a new high-security courtroom built by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in the port town of Mombasa was opened in June.  The idea is to increase trial efficiency in the system and provide a secure and modern environment suitable for piracy cases.

Other options listed in the new report include creating a Somali court in the territory of another State in the region and setting up an international tribunal agreed upon by regional States and the UN.  The Secretary-General stressed that arrangements for imprisonment are just as important as the prosecution of pirates given the large number of suspects apprehended.

Acknowledging the difficult economic climate prevailing today, Ban Ki-moon also underlined the need for political and financial commitment from the international community to not only create a new judicial body but also to sustain it.