Defining 'piracy', and the cost of our image

Maritime piracy is an international problem that disrupts shipping lanes, the world economy, and the safety and security of crewmen and ship owners. Piracy continues to be a type of crime that has withstood the test of time, despite the many efforts made to end the phenomenon.
It not only increases shipping and manufacturing cost, due to the rerouting of ships, but also has the potential to destroy large parts of the sea environment.
However, considering the economic and human cost of "piracy," it has become a great concern since piracy-prone zones and countries are being listed as high-risk areas for international trade, human mobility and maritime security.
In Bangladesh, we should take utmost caution in writing about piracy involving the legal aspects of it. If our press and contributors of the newspapers consider it appropriate to continue citing unsubstantiated facts, without adequately studying the legal aspects about the term and occurrences of piracy, Bangladesh might continue to face serious consequences in terms of trade and the image of the country; as Bangladesh was previously listed in the "High Risk Piracy Prone country."
In 2006, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) labelled the Chittagong port as "the most dangerous port in the world," writes Samuel Pyeatt Menefee in the Newport Paper, "There is very little empirical data regarding Bangladeshi piracy, but press accounts reveal a richer vein of attacks than might be suggested by the published maritime reports of thefts from vessels at Chittagong and Mongla," he notes further.
Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) 1982 or 1958 defines piracy as an act of violence committed in the high seas, meaning beyond 200 nautical miles from the coast. The "high seas" element of the LOSC definition of piracy may apply best to the Somali piracy, but has a severe limitation on the South Asian and Southeast Asian sea robbery/piracy.
The IMO also defines offenses of similar nature committed in the near shore area as "armed robbery." The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) now accepts both the LOSC and International Maritime Organization (IMO) definitions; ignoring their own classification that had previously been used for a long time.
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) follows the LOSC and IMO bipartite definition of piracy as well. The International Chamber of Shipping, however, differentiates between 'petty theft,' 'armed robbery' and 'hijacking.'
Unfortunately the media here has, too, been referring to these incidents of theft or robbery as 'piracy' and terming the offenders as 'pirates,' because the Bangla dictionary describes offences taking place in the waters as Jala-dasshuta (Jala meaning water, Dasshuta meaning acts of theft). So when the correspondents/reporters search for the English to Bangla translations, the words piracy/pirates immediately translates to jaladasshuta/jaladasshu.
These incidents recorded in Bangladesh takes place within the port areas/outer anchorages and, therefore, cannot be termed under international law as 'piracy.' Piracy is an offence under International law but in the Bangladesh Penal Code, there is no offence termed as such. Section 390 stipulates this type of offence as 'robbery'/'armed robbery.' So an offender can only be put on trial in Bangladesh as robbers at sea.
It can be categorically stated that there has not been a single incident of piracy in the high seas of Bangladesh and not a single incident reported by IMB would be considered as a piracy under the international law. The ReCAAP report has mentioned that the ship's crew, while at anchor in the outer anchorage of Chittagong, often engage themselves in the barter trade during dark hours -- small boats come alongside the ships for trading fresh provisions like fish, meat and vegetables in exchange for items such as mooring ropes, drums of paint, lubricant oil etc.; commonly carried out in connivance with the ship's crew.
Even the IMB and ReCAAP termed these incidents as theft/armed robberies at sea, whereas we are advocating them to be termed as piracy. Is there any legal basis for such claim? This is seriously damaging for our image as well as the shipping economy.
Just compare these incidents with those of the Somalian pirates who take over an entire ship and ask for some 5/6 million dollar ransom. If we look at the number of incidents given in the IMB report from 2003-12, then it can be seen that figures quoted (2000) in The Daily Star article are nowhere near the truth. To be honest if we add up the figures of piracy of all the seas in any year it would not reach anywhere near that figure.
From the table, it can easily be deduced that even the better economies of the region with much more capable naval and coast guard powers could not eliminate the menace of robbery at sea or piracy.
Most of these reported incidents in Bangladesh have been investigated and, unfortunately, ships did not report many of incidents to the coast guard or the port authority. Instead masters of these ships had reported those incidents to the IMB reasons best known to them.
It is now well established that the ship's crew do sell/barter the stores/property with boat people and to regularise theirs ships stores' account, they show these as stolen and report to IMB without even informing the local authorities.
It is also surprising that the reports are normally made well after the incidents take place, thus revealing their ill intention. In the Chittagong port, the employment of local watchmen is compulsory, who are to be paid about US$3 for 12 hours of duty. Most of the ships reporting piracy are not even willing to deploy local watchmen onboard their ships.
More than 2,500 merchant vessels visit Bangladeshi ports every year and a dozen petty theft incidents, compared to the total number of ship visited, should not be considered alarming by any standard. Four incidents of robbery reported in 2013 have been investigated and found to be based on false reports/late reports. In one case the coast guard ship on patrol, stationed 10 minutes away, was informed about the incident a good hour later.
Even the Economist as reproduced below did not mention Bangladesh waters as the piracy hotspots.
While it cannot be denied that some incidence of robbery do take place in our ports, the IMB for the first time in 20 years has removed Bangladesh from their List of High Risk Piracy prone countries in January 2012. IMB mentioned that "Attacks in Bangladesh have fallen significantly over the past few years because of the efforts by the Bangladesh Authorities." They have also added in their situation report, "Bangladesh (Chittagong anchorages and approaches): Robbery incidents have decreased. However, in the past, robbers have targeted ships at anchor or preparing to anchor and stolen ship stores."
Similarly the ReCAAP also reported in their website: "In South Asia, the improvement was most evident in the Arabian Sea and Bangladesh. No incident was reported in the Arabian Sea in 2012, and the lowest number of incidents was reported in Bangladesh in 2012 compared to the past four years (2008-2011). The ReCAAP commends the actions undertaken by the Indian and Bangladeshi authorities in their surveillance and anti-piracy efforts carried out in the area."
The above reports are testimony to what has been said so far and, not only that, due to this improvement the insurance costs of goods coming to our ports have also fallen by about 25%.
The vast majority of lower-end armed robbery is largely motivated by poverty and disenfranchisement that afflicts vulnerable targets like fishermen. In times of economic hardship robbery at sea/piracy is still viable for some traditional maritime peoples especially fishers' loosing income.
Economic duress also makes impoverished fishermen more vulnerable and may turn to piracy. Piracy will continue as long as poverty and unemployment persist. All maritime piracy begins and ends on land. Whether they are poor seafarers or fishers, pirates are recruited and based on shore.
Whatever is taken at sea eventually arrives at a port. Hence, effective anti-piracy measures need more than maritime security measures; they also need close coordination with national law enforcement authorities ashore.
The coast guard of Bangladesh is doing an excellent job within their limitation of capacity vessels and manpower. While the law enforcers and port authorities must continue to take appropriate measures to curb incidence of robbery at sea or any other criminal incidence of killing innocent fishermen and should not find shelter under the garb of definition, it is also expected that media/contributors would equally respect the procedures adopted by reputable organisation as per international legal definition and Bangladesh penal code before publishing any incident as piracy which is, in reality and legally, a 'robbery' or 'theft.'
There is no point in strictly following the Bangla dictionary without taking into account the legal recourse provided for such offence. Proper evaluation of incidents and use of internationally accepted legal terminology will only help Bangladesh to remove image of a piracy-prone country; thereby helping reduce the cost of shipping business in Bangladesh.

The writer is Secretary, Maritime Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.