VOA标准英语 Somali Piracy Exposes Weakness in UN Law of the Sea

The explosion of piracy¹ off the coast of Somalia in recent years has exposed a weakness in the United Nations maritime² law that makes high seas piracy illegal throughout the world.
　
An undated image made available in London, 08 Apr 2009 by Maersk Line, shows the container ship Maersk Alabama

In the waters off Somalia's nearly 4,000-kilometer-long coast, warships³ from more than a dozen countries have formed what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently described as "one of the largest anti-piracy flotillas in modern history."

Ships from NATO, European Union member states, and others have been dispatched there in recent months to fight a sharp upsurge in the hijacking⁴ of vessels⁵ and crew for ransom⁶. The United Nations says the 111 pirate attacks that took place last year in the sea corridor linking the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean represent an increase of nearly 200 percent over 2007.

Operating from remote fishing communities in northeastern and central Somalia, pirates have earned tens - perhaps even hundreds - of millions of dollars in ransom. They have disrupted global trade and have caused untold⁷ damage to the world's economy.

Horn of Africa analyst⁸ at Chatham House in London, Roger Middleton, says the international community must take some of the blame for the calamity⁹.

"Part of the thing is that people looked at Somalia and said, 'This country is so messed up, there is no point in worrying about it. They will just fight among themselves and there will be no consequences for the rest of the world.' And actually there are consequences for the rest of the world, which we are beginning to see now," Middleton said.

In 1991, Somalia descended¹⁰ into war after the fall of the regime of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. During the next decade, some European and Asian countries took advantage of the chaos¹¹ in Somalia and sent their commercial fleets to fish in Somali waters. Other European countries sent to Somalia thousands of drums of toxic¹² waste, including nuclear waste, to be dumped at sea.

Without a coast guard to monitor and prevent such illegal activities, Somali fishermen began organizing and arming themselves to confront waste dumpers and to collect fees from foreign vessels taking fish out of their waters. Middleton says what began as a legitimate¹³ fight against foreign exploitation turned into a criminal enterprise when everyone discovered its lucrative¹⁴ potential.

"Lots of people who are pirates now are not from coastal¹⁵ villages. They are not fishermen. They are from inside, former militiamen and they are motivated entirely¹⁶ by money. The fact that illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste still goes on in Somalia is excellent PR [public relations] for the pirates. It means that when they capture a ship and they talk to a news organization and say, 'We are just defending Somali waters,' and so on, that plays very well in the communities they need to get support from along the coast," he said.

The warships patrolling the Gulf¹⁷ of Aden and the Indian Ocean are doing so under the legal framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and Security Council resolutions.

Signed in 1982 by more than 150 countries, the Law of the Sea defines piracy as illegal acts committed on the high seas for private ends. It also states that all countries have a right to seize and prosecute¹⁸ those committing pirate acts on the high seas.

But maritime law specialists say the convention clearly did not consider the emergence¹⁹ of failed states like Somalia, and neglected to address the question of what happens if a pirate attack takes place not on the high seas, but within a country's territorial²⁰ waters or in its neighbor's waters.

The international law on piracy assumes that individual states would assume the responsibility of policing and patrolling their own waters and to prosecute those seized in the act of piracy. But not all states have the resources and capacity to ensure maritime security within their waters. This is now being highlighted by the on-going piracy problem in Somalia, which after 18 years is still trying to establish a functioning government.

In recent months, Somalia's neighbor, Kenya, has signed memorandums of understanding with the United States, Britain, and the European Union to accept suspected pirates and to prosecute them in Kenya. But those agreements have come under fire from local and international human rights groups and lawyers, who argue that Kenya has yet to pass relevant laws regarding piracy and that its corrupt²¹ judicial²² system cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair trials.

Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula has defended the government's position, saying Kenya is making an important contribution toward restoring maritime security in east Africa. But in a speech before a gathering²³ of foreign envoys²⁴ in Nairobi last December, he acknowledged the piracy problem is likely to continue unless Somalia achieves political stability.

"Partly, this menace is born out of our collective failure to resolve the problems of Somalia," he said. "It is the lawlessness of Somalia that has given the breeding ground for what is now an unprecedented²⁵ threat to trade activities, to cruise ships, to many things."

The international community agrees that a multilateral approach is needed to tackle the piracy issue. Within the United Nations, there has been serious debate about whether to create a maritime peacekeeping force for Somalia.

Somalis say they believe if the international community had cared about what was happening off the coast of Somalia in the 1990s, there would be no crisis to resolve now.

1 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

2 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

3 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

4 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

5 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

7 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

10 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

13 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

14 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

15 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

16 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

17 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

18 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

19 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

20 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

21 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

22 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

23 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

24 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

25 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。