On Friday 18th May, Mauritius announced that as of June it would officially begin to try people arrested by other countries for piracy around the Horn of Africa. This makes four countries in the area willing to prosecute piracy - Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles, and now Mauritius.
A final contract between the EU and Tanzania is still awaiting signing before Tanzania can proceed.
And although the Kenyan Court of Appeal is still waiting to deliver its decision about whether Kenya actually has the legal right to try pirates arrested outside of Kenyan waters; Kenya is still accepting alleged pirates to prosecute. Read about that landmark courtcase here.
Many of the countries doing the arresting and capturing, those involved in the 'Coalition of the Willing' are actually unwilling to prosecute the people they themselves capture. The various governments often cite the risks that the people will apply for asylum after any trial.
Maybe therefore they should consider arresting the IUUs and boats dumping toxic waste.
Most of those ship owners and firms that produce the waste are people from the countries that make up Atalanta, Ocean Shield, CTF 151 and IONS and all the other independent navies patrolling in the waters off Somalia. Then there would be no worry about people seeking asylum.
