The UN Security Council has renewed for another 12 months the authorization given by Resolution 1846 (2008) for states and regional organizations to enter Somali territorial waters in their fight against piracy.
In resolution 1897 adopted unanimously, the 15-member body also asserted that these authorizations should uphold norms of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the release added.
The Security Council “urged States Parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation to fully implement their obligations and to cooperate with the United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other states and international organizations in order to have the legal means to prosecute those suspected of acts of piracy and armed robbery committed off the Somali coast,” the statement added.
It also said the UN welcomed the initiatives taken by the Contact Group for Somalia, in cooperation with the International Maritime Organisation and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to “facilitate coordination to deter acts of piracy in the area.
It should be noted that this year, the pirates have been operating ever further out to sea, sometimes hundreds of miles away from the coast.
The Council renewed earlier calls to those states fighting piracy off the Somali coast to conclude arrangements “whereby countries willing to take custody of pirates, particularly those in the region, would station law enforcement officials on the patrol ships to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of persons detained as a result of the international operations, provided the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) consents, the release pointed out.
The Council called on member states at the request of the TFG “to strengthen capacity in Somalia, including regional authorities, to bring to justice those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate, or undertake criminal acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.”
Source African Press Agency
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