United Nations, April 28: The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution that seeks the creation of a special body to prosecute pirates caught off the Somali coast and asks all countries to criminalise piracy.
The Russian-drafted resolution, which passed unanimously by all 15 member-states of the Security Council, appealed to all countries “to criminalise piracy under their domestic law and favourably consider the prosecution of suspected, and imprisonment of convicted, pirates apprehended off the coast of Somalia, consistent with applicable international human rights law.”
The resolution noted with concern, “that the domestic law of a number of States lack effective criminalising piracy or procedural provisions for effective criminal prosecution of suspected pirates.
In the resolution, members noted efforts by the United Nations and other international agencies “to enhance the capacity of the judicial and the corrections systems in Somalia, Kenya, Seychelles and other States in the region”.
—Agencies