Topic: International Cooperation in Combatting Piracy
Country: Ukraine
Delegate Name: Catherine Russell
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ukraine position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Piracy has become a larger international issue over the past few years. In places such as the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the South China Sea have been the most impacted by these threats. Piracy, as defined by the IMB, is “the act of boarding any vessel with the intent to commit any crime and with the intent to capacity to use force in furtherance of that act.” These pirates pose a threat to our nations, as well as the people on board the vessel, along with international trade, maritime industry, and transportation. It has a strong impact on a country's economy, as you all know, trade, among other things, costs money. The United Nations has passed resolutions regarding piracy before, however, these have not been able to effectively decrease the amount of piracy in the world. It is now up to DISEC to come up with a resolution that will, hopefully, help to end this current international threat.
Ukraine is greatly disturbed by the number of pirates in the seas, and is heavily involved in combating piracy, and believes that the rest of the international community should take part in combating this international threat. Ukraine has been directly impacted by the pirates, seeing as how we have between 80,000 and 100,000 merchant ships at sea, and from 2008 to mid 2012, 104 Ukrainian sailors were victims of piracy. Many of the sailors were tortured and beaten brutally by their captors. Much of the economy in the country rests on the world’s waterways and piracy affects many of our nation’s exports. Ukraine has taken part in NATO’s anti-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean. Our first cooperation being in 2005, when our nation asked NATO for assistance with the Somali pirates who were interfering with trade. Ukraine has also passed a resolution protecting Ukrainian merchant ships and their crews by armed guards.
Ukraine proposes to develop a law to combat maritime pirates within the United Nations. This law will define the legal principles at measures to combat piracy at a national level, in particular criminal responsibility for the committing and financing the acts of piracy, according to one of Ukraine's diplomats, and it would not infringe on national sovereignty. Ukraine would like to ensure the safety of all nations who rely on maritime trade, and believes the use of armed guards on ships would be useful to combating piracy as they would be able to protect the cargo being carried as well as the crew, which would allow for economic growth.
