We don't want them: Exploring the crime-punishment divide of bringing Somali pirates to justice

• In Event: Justice Issues in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

Since 2009, more than 300 Somali pirates have been prosecuted and imprisoned under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOC) "regional model for prosecuting pirates" in East Africa. With piracy arrests and prosecutions at an all-time low, UNODC funding and programming has shifted focus to repatriating, rehabilitating, and reintegrating piracy prisoners back into Somali communities. However, various sectors of the Somali public have expressed objection to these programming efforts. Employing an African Criminology lens, this study explores the tensions surrounding the issue of reintegrating pirates to illustrate a broader divide between geographies of crime and punishment and African and Western approaches to achieving justice. Specifically, we argue that in order to successfully reintegrate pirates into Somali communities, counter piracy programming should take direction from various aspects of Somali customary law. While acknowledging the multiple legal systems at work in Somalia, we contend that the legal, cultural, and political needs of the geographical areas most affected by piracy operations, remote coastal communities, should play a larger role in informing strategies for achieving justice.

Authors

• Brittany Gilmer, University of Alabama

• Britanee Kane, Florida International University