Turning the Tide on Piracy, Building Somalia's Future: Follow-up Report on the EU's Operation Atalanta and Beyond

HL 43, Third Report of Session 2012-13 - Report

Author:

House of Lords – European Union Committee

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

Price: £10.00

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Somalia's Future: Follow-up Report on the EU's Operation Atalanta and Beyond (HL 43)' makes clear that it is vital efforts are extended beyond 2014 to show the EU will not walk away from confronting piracy in the Indian Ocean. Otherwise organisations and individuals that organise piracy will simply wait out the operation before returning to their previous activities.

Operation Atalanta has made clear progress in reducing the number of ships pirated, with only eight vessels and 215 hostages held in June 2012 compared to 23 vessels and 501 hostages in the same month in 2011.

The Committee welcomes the increase in trials and imprisonment of pirates and particularly praises the role played by the Seychelles. However, the Committee do express concerns about the policy of transferring sentenced pirates back to Somalia for imprisonment and suggest there is a risk of breakouts. They call on the EU and UN to work together to monitor pirate prisons. They also say efforts should be made to ensure the imprisonment includes some efforts at rehabilitation as well as punishment, particularly for young pirates.

Other findings in the report include:

• Somali piracy will never be completely eradicated until the root causes of the problems in the country are addressed through aid focused on providing alternative livelihoods for the Somali people to reduce the incentives to engage in piracy;

• the Committee now supports the use of armed guards on ships; and

• a welcome degree of international cooperation in tackling Somali piracy with national navies of Russia, China and India all playing a role.

Extent	35 pages	ISBN	9780108476143
Size	A4	Price	£10.00
Format	Paperback	Published	21 Aug 2012
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges