Petioning pirates
Posted on | May 25, 2010 | 1 Comment
A petition calling for action on Somali piracy is an insult to seafarers. But we should all probably sign it.
It was an occasion when one didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. While the Maritime Safety Committee struggled to get through the plenary debate on piracy and security, a group of 13 shipping NGOs were preparing to release an online petition, calling for increased action on piracy by national governments.
‘All governments’ it demanded, should ‘commit the resources necessary to end the increasing problem of Somalia-based piracy’. The plan is to deliver at least half a million signatures to governments by IMO World Maritime Day on September 23rd, 2010.
This idea, worthy though it is, faces the same challenges as every formal anti-piracy initiative: close to total apathy about the subject among the general public and a low priority among governments.
The idea that allowing people to ‘make their feelings about piracy known’ will interest the young and connected is a brave test of the power of social media and online ‘crowd-sourcing’ but as a measure in itself, it is largely symbolic.
The truth is that if the international community wanted to end piracy off Somalia it could have done so by now. The other, less convenient truth, is that to judge by the continued hijackings, ignorance of best management practices, many shipowners see it as a low priority too – or at least as a numbers game worth playing.
While they are prepared to put crews in harm’s way and let them take their chances, a petition simply adds insult to injury.
So why should we pay this idea any mind? Because it might be the very beginnings – many years too late – of Corporate Social Responsibility in shipping. I’ve long argued that piracy puts shipping in a moral dilemma because an industry which has spent so long avoiding attention will always struggle to make a case for aid when the time comes.
Despite the talking and the contact groups, shipowners have failed to provide firm evidence that they have done much more than plead victimhood and look to others to provide solutions. In one sense this is realistic. The long term solution lies far outside their sphere of influence.
But that is no excuse for doing so little, or for failing to take the minimum steps necessary to help themselves.
But we should sign the petition and encourage our friends and colleagues to do so too. Why? In part because at MSC, the process concerned draft guidelines on seaworthiness of released vessels and increased counselling for crews. To most people, this fiddling while the city is in flames is representative of the problem. While the solution remains out of reach, marginal improvements are all that can be made.
During plenary by the way, delegates were reminded that the official term was ‘acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia’ rather than ‘Somali piracy’. Presumably to avoid risk of insult to the pirates themselves.
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May 28th, 2010 @ 2:17 pm
Everyone agrees piracy is terrible.
To correct the situation we must address the real cause and this is the economic cause. Recently there have been numerous articles regarding many of the worlds fishing fleet plundering African coastlines, with the outcome being territorial sea devastation.
What an incredible civilization we are living in when it is OK to plunder a nations resources and then lock them up when they respond in the only way they know how. They use to fish.
The finance that is being spent on piracy could be spent on food, education, medicine, government etc… But this would not be in the interest of those supplying the anti-piracy measures.
What a dilemma – we either help fix the root cause and not make money or we bandaid the problem and make lots of money and the present world economic climate has determined the decison.
SD