Piracy focus 'has subtly switched to war on terror'.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: Barrister urges enforcement of anti-pirates law, writes Sandra Speares

Difficulties with the suppression of piracy relate more to enforcement of existing legislation than a lack of law on the topic, according to Susan Hawker, a barrister and full time lecturer at London Metropolitan University.

In a presentation at the Greenwich Maritime Institute, she contended that while much had been done to suppress maritime violence including piracy, 'much of the current international focus, including that of the IMO, has subtly moved the attention from piracy per se to more politically 'sexy' offences such as hijacking and terrorist-related activities, and that in any event, lack of successful suppression'continuance of piracy is not related to lack of available legal machinery'.

One question she asked was whether merchant shipping was invisible. In spite of the fact that 97% of cargo was carried by sea, the general public tended to think that it was carried by air.

Piracy was rarely on the news or in the broadsheets. Could it be argued, she asked, that despite the range of legal provisions that exist, there was a subliminal political tolerance of piracy?

There was, she said, no single legal definition of piracy under customary international law and she considered the definition of 'any armed violence at sea which is not a lawful act of war' to be a good starting point.