(Image Source: The Daily Mail/Bådmagasinet)
BY JACQUELINNE MEJIA
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“For what is believed to be the first time Somali pirates have kidnapped children. The pirates hijacked a sailboat carrying a Danish family off the coast of east Africa. The Danish government says a couple and their three children, ages 13, 15 and 17, were seized last Thursday.”
(Video: CBS)
The latest incident in the recent string of pirate hijackings involves the Johansen family from Kalundborg, Denmark. The Johansen family detailed their trip’s journey on SailBlogs. In an eerie twist of fate, the last entry on Feb. 23 read as follows... [translated]
“Rane and Viktor have spent half an hour to explain fishing line this morning. Jan has sent a thousand email again to the chieftain people, and we have NOT been drilled by pirates.”
As the world watches the fate of the family, reporters and bloggers are questioning the root cause of these attacks. An expert on Somali piracy discusses the global effects of the attacks with an anchor on Fox News.
“This is a problem that is now affecting not just the individual victims, like the four Americans and this Danish family, but also threatening commerce, the flow of oil, there’s currently a tanker being held that was bringing in over 2 million barrels of oil to the United States [...]
...
[...] the international community so far has not incentivized the pirates to behave differently. There’s very little possibility of getting caught, it’s catch and release for many of the pirates, and the penalties aren’t stiff enough [...]”
A correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor agrees saying maritime rules need to be modernized if piracy is to be stopped.
“As Somali pirates venture further afield hijacking commercial vessels, more nations are being forced to confront the growing problem, [..] With 19th-century laws for a 21st-century problem, many states either have a lackadaisical approach to bringing pirates to justice, or simply cannot do so under arcane maritime rules.”
A blogger for TIME says Somali pirates have been rerouting their hijacking efforts further south in order to fend off international patrols and suggests taking a closer look at how the conditions of third-world countries affect the prisoners that are being held hostage.
“Of course, many other sailors on commercial vessels have less of a choice: an estimated 800 or so crewmen languish in the custody of Somali pirates. Many come from countries that lack the clout or the resources to bail them out. Spare them (and their impoverished families) a thought also while worrying about the nerve-wracking plight of this Danish family.”
But a guest contributor for JoongAng Daily says poverty and colonial rule are the major contributing factors to Somali piracy.
“The Somalis were under colonial rule for a long time, and during this time, foreign countries invaded their fishing ground and contaminated the nearby waters. And the Somali people’s defensive acts evolved into piracy. As a result, many Somali pirates do not feel guilty about their crimes. Sometimes, piracy is considered an act of patriotism and a way of life to escape from poverty.”
The Johansen family had been in contact with anti-piracy forces and had even conceived an emergency “piracy plan”. Denmark’s foreign minister has told the media that they are watching the situation ‘very closely’.
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