Topic: International Cooperation in Combatting Piracy
Country: Serbia
Delegate Name: Connor Buhl
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Serbia position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Although Serbia is a landlocked nation, we still experience the scourge that is International piracy. Piracy does not just affect coasts and oceans, but nations with large rivers residing in their borders also experience piracy. Serbia experiences frequent pirate raids of cargo ships along the Danube River. Many of these raids are in fact, not traditional plundering. We are finding that the ship crews will often cooperate with pirates by selling off their cargo to the pirates and then reporting the missing cargo as stolen to receive insurance money. These pirates also escape capture and prosecution by cooperating with police in other nations via bribery. When bribery and insurance fraud are not enough, pirates will often scare ship crews into cooperation with threats of violence and property destruction.
The Serbian government has attempted to enforce and police the Danube river between the ports at Belgrade and Smederevo. However, we have run into problems keeping the entire river secure, especially when smugglers cooperate with corrupt ship crews. One of the main problems is lack of funding for river security. There are not currently enough patrol boats on the Danube and the ones that are currently guarding the river are not equipped well enough to deal with the pirates.
Based on our own experience with piracy, which many nations undoubtedly share, Serbia believes that combatting piracy should focus on increasing funding for security and decreasing corruption. In order to preserve national sovereignty we must allow nations to form their own security forces with possible international funding as opposed to creating a single international security force to combat piracy. In regards to corruption, this committee needs to encourage nations to crack down on police and shipping corruption. Although the international community should be encouraged to help other nations struggling from piracy, this help should be limited to funding and aid as affected nations are the ones that are mainly responsible from stopping the spread of piracy. In addition, we would like to see any resolution passed include the concerns of nations that experience piracy on rivers and not focus solely on maritime piracy. Any piracy that threatens international and domestic shipping and trade is not a threat to any nation alone, but a threat to all bordering nations and countries connected by waterways.
To conclude, Serbia believes it is the duty of this committee to take a stance against international piracy by encouraging and perhaps funding nations to take measures to increase security in areas prone to piracy and work against corruption in the local communities that allow piracy to occur.
Works Cited
●Vukasovic, Vladimir. "Речни „пирати” бољи трговци него пљачкаши." Politika Online. N.p., n.d. Web.
●ILIC, J. "Smederevo: Pirati Haraju Na Dunavu." Novosti. N.p., 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
●Ilic, J. "Smederevo: Šverc Istočio Barže." Novosti. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015.
