Topic: International Cooperation in Combatting Piracy
Country: Sri Lanka
Delegate Name: Conor Streng
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Sri Lanka position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Piracy, needless to say, is a problem. It affects individuals, corporations, governments and economies. It is safe to say that piracy has affected just about every country here in some way, shape or form. As many of you know it is not a positive affect. Piracy has a long, bloody and violent history which has seen it spread throughout the world. As history has proven, one country alone cannot stop piracy which is what makes this problem so difficult to solve. Because of the fact that pirates are not necessarily aligned with any country or group it makes diplomacy nearly impossible.
Sri Lanka has an unfortunate history with piracy. Rebel groups in the north attacked ships in the Indian Ocean until Sri Lanka armed forces eliminated them. Sri Lanka has also had ships attacked by Somali pirates and the Gulf of Guinea. Pirating is definitely a problem for Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka plans on helping in any way it can with combating international piracy.
One solution that has proven it successful in the past is having armed guards onboard ships liable to be targeted by pirates. The countries or corporations to which the boats belong could supply the guards. The only problem that this solution has is that many countries do not want ships with armed guards docking in their ports. Sri Lanka has a simple solution for possible problems suggested by putting armed guards on cargo ships. Sri Lanka has created a number of floating armories so that ship's guards can drop of their weapons and pick them back up when they leave so as not to create any problems. This keeps ships from breaking international laws and violating national sovereignty. Sri Lanka would also like to see more cooperation on this issue, as the problem of piracy can only be solved through constructive dialogue between nations.
