Dr. M. S. HaqIt now appears from a report (22 July 2013) of The Independent newspaper of Bangladesh – there are at present more than 50 sailors and fishermen held for ransom on Somalia’s pirate coast. The hostages have been passing their days in difficult conditions in the midst of uncertainties concerning their survival, continuity, freedom, and return to their families, to mention a few. Among the hostages are men reportedly from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Cambodia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries concerned.The bad news is: some of the men were taken as hostages as early as 2010. At present, a variety of news concerning hostages and related matters are floating in the market. For example: one, the boat owners have abandoned concerned hostages following sinking their boats by pirates; two, outcomes of efforts of EU naval forces, regional maritime security and others concerned towards freeing the hostages are yet to succeed; three, an apparent lack of willingness, and inabilities, on the part of countries (I mean countries of hostages) to remedy the situation at individual, collective and other levels; and four, appeals of hostages and families so far are yet to create the required thrust in favor of ensuring freedom of hostages in an accelerated manner. Some good news is: “Off Somalia’s pirate coastline, … rates of attacks have tumbled in the past two years.”
In light of above and other developments, one of the challenges will be – as to how best and quickest world countries including the US and countries of the hostages, institutions including the UN and others concerned that are involved in rescue and related activities in pertinent areas, the owners, and others concerned could team up in pursuits of planning, coordinating and implementing an emergency rescue operation in a concerted and result oriented manner in pursuits of freeing above hostages at the soonest and developing a critical mass of institutionalized response to deal with, as required though, person made ‘disasters’ of above nature through future times .
A few of the concerns here are: failures to deal with hostage situations in a just-in-time and better fashion on a continuous basis could – pose a formidable threat to legitimate safety and internal motivation (in pertinent areas) of all concerned including sailors at the time when prospects of upcoming opportunities such as those of climate change in the form of new or additional (or both) sea routes are brightening; promote free rider statuses for pirates and their activities – adding new or additional dimensions to present day terrorism; and affect Law of the Sea of United Nations in a variety of ways.
A few of the suggestions for dealing with above challenges and concerns have been presented here – not in the order of priority and importance but they are relative to time, space and other variables.
I. Establish, implement and maintain a doable SOP (standard operating procedure) – agreed by, between and among all concerned – for just-in-time handling of emergencies (as maximally practicable though) that have been arising out of, and in the course of, such activities as Somalia pirates’ leading to events mentioned above. Also, agree on – resources mobilization, as well as management via say pulling and sharing of resources of all concerned for implementation of say the SOP; and rapid communication facilities in an event when for example a boat comes under attack by pirates; to mention a few.
II. Review Law of the Sea in light of above and other developments including those emanating from climate change opportunities, as well as challenges. How about strengthening the role of global insurance in dealing with matters of for example Somalia hostages and tightening of boat owners’ accountability under say Somalia hostage situations?
III. Explore and exploit opportunities of for example anti-terror laws at local, global and other levels with a view to bringing pirates and concerned others to respective criminal justice.
IV. Strengthen sea surveillances; train or retrain or both for example sailors on first aid matters including measures, enabling them to deal with situations when for example a boat will come under attack from pirates in the future – all, in a better manner, to the satisfaction of all concerned.
The last word: combine, as well as step up security and diplomatic efforts to rescue the hostages on an urgent basis. In that respect, Bangladesh could act as an interlocutor for facilitating a quicker remedy to the situation. Help the helpless hostages to get themselves free. World community cannot and should not afford to remain under active at this hour of humanitarian needs. Let us work towards that in a result-oriented fashion. God bless. (The author is inter alia former Government Advisor, Office of the Prime Minister, Fiji)
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