Child Pirates from Somalia

In recent times, there is an adverse increase in the number of pirates from backward country like Somalia. However the young age of these pirates have become an obstacle for prosecution. This article shall deal with the difficulties that these Children are facing.

Piracy has been occurring throughout history, from the Vikings to the Moors it

was almost impossible to stop them. Due to the efforts of rulers and world

leaders it was decreased a notch. But in recent times there is an adverse

increase in the number of pirates in backward countries like Somalia,

Seychelles, etc and the biggest back drop of this is that most of these pirates

are under the age of eighteen. Countries around the globe are trying to bring

pirates to justice to create a safe sea environment. However, the young age of

these pirates has become an obstacle for prosecution and hence a doorway to

exploiters. Even if these kids are to be brought to justice there is no proper

juvenile justice system to convict them. This article shall exclusively deal with

the child pirates from Somalia and their present conditions. The existing legal

framework for child piracy in Somalia and the International criminal

convention shall also be presented. The root causes for child piracy and the

ideas to bring it down shall be put forward. Finally, a conclusion shall be drawn

as to how this problem can be dealt with by the International community.

INTRODUCTION:

According to International law, piracy takes place outside the normal

jurisdiction of the state, without state authority, and is private, not political,

though acts of unlawful warfare, acts of insurgent and revolutionaries, mutiny

and slave trading have been defined as piracy by national laws of various

countries or by special treaties. Somalia is a small East- African country having

the longest coast- line in the area. The country has been through a lot of social,

political and economic crisis, hence making its people vulnerable. A few years

ago, when the Somalian government collapsed, the lawlessness eventually led

to large scale of piracy. At first the International community thought that they

could put an end to this problem but later they realized that it was not so easy.

The United Nations has so far warranted seven resolutions one which states

‘all necessary means shall be taken to put a full stop on piracy and armed

robbery at sea’. So, why has piracy become such a big issue despite all the laws

and regulations? The answer is simple ‘Child Piracy’, neither the Somalian laws

nor the International laws can convict children for piracy. Hence, the vicious

leaders like Abduwali Muse exploit children who are poor and have no where

to go and make them into pirates. For example, in March 2011 an Indian vessel

captured sixty-one pirates amongst which about twenty-five of them were

under the age of fifteen and four of them were under the age of eleven.

Hence, child piracy has become a very big issue in Somalia and these poor and

innocent kids are the sufferers, firstly from being lured towards crime because

of backward economic conditions and secondly from the poor juvenile system

in the country.

REASONS OF CHILD PIRACY IN SOMALIA

Somalis through out the years have been living under unimaginable

circumstances like acute poverty, lawlessness and of course an entire course of

civil war. The people have been affected but the children are the most affected

because they are forced to turn their face towards crimes just to have one

meal a day.

Youssef aged somewhere between fifteen to sixteen shared his experience of he

got lured into piracy. At the beginning he was working as a night watchman

guarding a boat and earning less than a dollar. Then a man approached him

and offered to give him about 500 dollars to pilot a ship and he agreed to do so

and only after he got arrested, he realised that he was involved in a piracy

operation.

Just like Youssef there are thousands and thousands of children who give in to

piracy due to various reasons. Below listed are a few major reasons that draw

children into a heinous crime like piracy:

1. Poor Economic Conditions: Most of the inhabitants of Somalia are Sunni Muslims who did not defect to other lands. They are nomads and are entirely

dependent on their live stocks but natural disasters have wiped out most of it.

Hence their only economic source is cut down so now they are desperate for

money and food and are ready to do whatever work comes their way. The

children are forced to do labour in order to serve themselves and their

families, enters in pirate leaders who take advantage of this situation and take

these kids in. In fact, in many cases the families voluntarily send their kids to

work for pirates. These kids have no idea that what they are doing is illegal and

just for feeding their families do whatever they are told to do. There are also

rumours that these children are also drugged on daily basis so that they stay

put.

2. Starvation: Somalia was recently hit with one of the biggest humanitarian

crises known to mankind. Almost 30,000 children were found dead and the

remaining third were suffering from severe malnutrition. Considering the given

circumstances in order to just stay alive these kids have to do something and

expecting a decent job in a country like Somalia is almost impossible. Hence,

they risk everything and turn towards piracy just to feed themselves.

3. Clan identity: The Somalian social structure is a very complicated one and is

mainly divided into four groups namely Darod, Dir, Hawiye and Rahanweyn.

There is kind of clan mentality engraved in the mind of the Somalis. They

believe that whatever work the entire clan does that is what their children will

do. So, many families will voluntarily send in their kids along with the clan’s

working men. Many of these men who are involved in piracy take these kids

with them too.

4. Irresponsible Government: The government system in Somalia has been

under crisis now for almost two to three decades. The people are left

unattended and most the government organs are corrupted and themselves

run piracy rackets. The kids are not protected or nurtured and hence are

forced into this system.

5. Lack of awareness and education: Neither the kids nor their families are

aware of the seriousness of the crime of piracy under the international criminal

law and hence just blindly follow whatever gives them a basic standard of

living. These kids are not even provided with basic education in which case

they could take a decent job.

6. Exploitation of resources: The Somalian coast is one of the longest coasts in

Africa yet the inhabitants cannot make use of its rich resources. The coastlines

are dominated by industrialist and corrupt politicians. If not, the kids could

have opted to do pisciculture or salt extraction from the sea water but they

cannot do so because the water has been completely polluted and the natural

resources exploited.

These are the major reasons why the Somalian kids are drawn towards illegal

activities like piracy.

SOMALIAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND ITS SET BACKS

1. The justice system in Somalia is a four tired system and it includes: formal

law, clan-based law, sharia’r courts and civil society initiatives. Under the

national Somalian law children cannot be prosecuted for alleged commission

of crimes. But the clan- law usually governs the juvenile justice system.

2. The procedure of detention and trial of child pirates violates a lot of

international customary laws. Lawyers who handle the case usually handle it in

groups and these groups contain both kids as well as adults. Single

representation is not provided to the minor and their unique situations and

needs are not taken into consideration.

3. Just like many countries the Somalian justice system is also a party to the

Minimum Age Requirement for Criminal Responsibility (MARC) an age at which

an individual is capable of forming criminal intent. Hence, adding to the

problems of prosecution.

4. The Children Act of 2001 provides that proper and safe accommodation

should be provided to these kids but in reality, there are very few juvenile

conviction centres in the state and the existing ones are for petty crimes and

not for international crimes. These facilities also lack basic infrastructure and

living standards. Hence these kids are forced back to the streets.

5. The Convention on the rights of child requires that the parents or guardians

of these children be notified and brought in. But contacting these parents and

extracting them from their place is a very huge task and no one takes that kind

of risk. One can surely imagine the kind of mental trauma these innocent little

kids are put through.

6. Somalia enacted the Juvenile Justice law in 2007 with the help of UNICEF. The

law basically aims in providing a fair justice system that protects and promotes

physical and mental well- being and personal development. The law includes a

provision that makes child’s welfare the prosecuting court’s priority,

discourages pre- trial detention, prohibits harsh punishments and death

penalty and requires a formation of children’s courts. As polished as it looks on

paper in reality none of these are actually followed and the regional security

committee still continues to handle the matter.

STEPS TAKEN BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

The international community that is the United Nations would definitely not sit

tight when a matter like this specially which involves kids comes up. They have

taken important measures and steps to prevent child piracy and make

prosecution of these kids easy. The United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

which is responsible for providing humanitarian and development aid to

children world wide has taken measures like providing these kids with free

basic education, basic standard of living, distribution of food packages,

encouraging them to develop new skills and so on. By providing these facilities

the kids are allowed to live a standard life without committing crimes like

piracy. The UN also adopted a set of guidelines for the prevention of juvenile

delinquency which is also known as the Riyadh Guidelines, it speaks about all

the important procedures and rules that revolve around the juvenile crime

sector. The UN has also helped Somalia set up a juvenile center for kids who

commit crimes of grave nature. These centers are not fully functional but it is a

good start. The UN has also funded the Somalian government to set up schools

and learning centers for these kids but due to corruption the money has not

been utilized to the fullest.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS OF THESE CHILDREN?

It has become very evident that child piracy has become a major issue in

Somalia and here is what can be done in order to curb it down:

1. More and more emphasis should be laid on education and skill development.

If the children are literate or at least posses some kind of industrial skills then

they themselves can become independent without having to turn towards

crime as a living option.

2. Awareness programs should be conducted more often and the graveness of

the crimes like piracy should be elaborated to the people so that they are not

lured by the money.

3. The prosecution process should be made much more easy and single

representation for the kids must be made compulsory. So, that the judges can

individually analyse the situation of these kids and decide the case with utter

sensitivity.

4. The identities of these kids must be protected at all costs so that they live a

life of dignity and respect.

5. There is an ideology that says that by prosecuting these kids’ piracy can be

curbed down. But this is a complete myth that needs to be busted, these kids

take the harsh path because of their socio- economic conditions and the factor

of fear will not affect their decision. Instead these kids should be put under

detention and provide a good path for their future lives.

6. Also, there is very important need to bring down corrupt politicians who in

the name of ruling country actually run these piracy rackets. Until that is done

it is very difficult to protect these children.

7. Bringing more international media and community attention to the problem.

This will help in forcing the Somalian government as well as the united nations

to create a special legislative principle or policy with regard to child piracy.

8. Construction of more juvenile centres that will provide these accused kids

with a safe and stable environment along with psychological counselling to

boost up their morale.

9. Curb other problems like poverty and unemployment that is the actual root

cause of children opting piracy as a way to earn a standard living for them and

their family.

10. Promote NGOs to take in kids involved in piracy and provide them with a

good life.

11. Prevent industrialists from exploiting the natural resources along the long

coast line of Somalia so that these kids and their families can make use of their

local resources to build up a living for themselves.

These are a few steps that can be opted in order to prevent child piracy and

protect the livelihood of these people.

CONCLUSION

Children are the future of tomorrow and they should be protected at all costs

despite their race, caste, religion. This paper brought forward the grievances of

these kids. Somalian kids need us more than ever we can do small bits like sign

petitions, donate to NGOs involved in protecting these kids, raise your voice

against the rich exploiting the livelihood of these people, volunteer under

UNICEF and so on. Hopefully the law reformers give more importance and

bring actual changes in the policies regarding child piracy and give these kids

the life they deserve.