Trial of Pirates in International Courts of Justice: Challenges and Approaches

Fighting piracy through marine patrolling or round-the-clock presence of navy forces in international waterways may reduce pirate attacks against ships but will bear no fruit in the long run, without introducing approaches for trial and punishment of the main culprits. During the past decade, pirates have been tried within their country of origin but for various reasons such as asylum-seeking, high costs, political problems and the like, this sole approach has failed to be of positive effect in the course of fighting piracy. Moreover, resorting to such methods as the trial of pirates in third countries has faced numerous restrictions in practice. Therefore, the trial of pirates at a regional or international court can be evaluated as a long-term approach with positive effects. This approach, however, may face serious challenges although there are solutions under study to overcome these challenges. This research intends to have a critical review of the challenges and approaches to the trial of pirates in international courts of justice.