Arbitrary - Upon Suspicion (Piracy at the Horn of Africa)

Newsletter 2009/10/23 - Arbitrary - Upon Suspicion

DJIBUTI/BERLIN/BRATISLAVA (Own report) - The NATO defense ministers' meeting opened yesterday with a debate on the war on piracy at the Horn of Africa. The debate focused on plans for closer coordination of the NATO, EU and independent nations' troops operating off the East African coast, to give more strike capability to the intervention. The meager results to be shown by the multinational naval deployment have placed this debate on the agenda. As demonstrated in recently published statistics, this large scale intervention has not led to fewer attacks of piracy but rather to an escalation of violence.
Currently, the only tangible result has been the imposition of the arbitrary right of might on the high seas. Only recently, the German navy reported that, on the basis of mere suspicion, its troops had stopped two ships, forced their passengers to disembark and then sank the ships. This has become a common practice, one that scoffs at international standards. The arbitrary methods being used by the warships of the EU against boats carrying refugees toward Europe in the Mediterranean are now being practiced on the high seas off the coast of East Africa.

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http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56292