Country Watch
tion. As a result of these limiting provisions, inter- national taskforce ships patrolling the region have been hesitant to intercept and search probable pirate vessels.
Furthermore, captured pirates were traditionally returned and tried in the flag state of the pirate vessel, but since Somalia’s TFG lacks the legal ca- pacity to handle such cases, authorities are now confronted with the problem of whom to hand the pirates over to after they have been apprehended. Regional states have generally been reluctant to accept captured Somali pirates since their courts often lack the financial resources to track down witnesses, gather evidence and locate interpret- ers. The UN sought to address this problem in Resolution 1846 by obliging all Members States who had signed the 1988 UN Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation to accept pirates for pros- ecution unless they could explain why the conven- tion does not apply.
Based on the numerous resolutions already passed by the UN Security Council it is clear that the international community has taken note of the problems piracy continues to present. Addition- ally, Somaliland and Puntland, two self-governing regions of Somalia previously considered pirate safe-havens, have also strengthened their ef- forts; both regions and have begun to prosecute suspected pirates in their courts. Resolution 2015 urges States to provide legal experts to assist in drafting domestic laws consistent with interna- tional and human rights law in order to bring these trials up to international standards.
Ultimately though, UN authorities have noted that the most effective tool for combating piracy in the region is a stable Somali state. But despite de- velopments indicating the decades-long conflicts were abating, Somalia remains one of the poorest, most chaotic countries in the region, thus allow- ing piracy to continue to flourish. In response the UN Security Council is presently considering more
resolutions that would extend and expand earlier mandates like Resolution 2015, but until more sta- bility is achieved and until regional authorities have the capacity to confront the issue domestically, piracy will continue to disrupt the global economy and remain a problem for the greater international community as a whole.
*Submitted by James Foster Arab League Monitors Deployed in Syria
Fewer than two weeks after Arab League moni- tors were first deployed to observe unrest in Syria, foreign ministers from the League’s nations met on January 8, 2012 to discuss the efficacy of their monitoring system. After a meeting in Cairo, the ministers reiterated their demand for an end to the violence in Syria and declared that the Arab League’s monitoring mission would continue, despite criticisms of its effectiveness. The Arab League in fact ordered additional monitors and en- hanced equipment to support its fact-finding mis- sion in the Middle Eastern nation.
Syria has been wrought with conflict since early 2011, when protesters began demanding greater political freedoms and an end to President Bashar al-Assad’s 40 year regime. The rebellion quickly in- tensified due to the government’s violent response to peaceful protests.
In an attempt to quell the tensions, the Arab League, an association of 22 states aiming to pre- serve common interests within the Middle East region, intervened in November 2011. After talks with the Syrian government, the Arab League ne- gotiated a peace plan aimed to end the violence and open discussions between the opponents. The terms of the plan required the Syrian gov- ernment to withdrawal its forces from cities and towns, release certain political prisoners, and al- low access to both foreign media and Arab League monitors.
Approximately 150 monitors were sent to Syria on ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 3 » February 2012
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