Concerned countries have just started to discuss the possibility of joint patrol of sea areas.
To prevent piracies, every country's voluntary activities are indispensable, not just those of the coastal countries. So far, however, the only coastal country able to enforce practical measures is Singapore. Other coastal countries are not able to protect their territorial waters from pirates, or even possess essential infrastructure, owing to economic and political instability. In these circumstances piracy is getting more intense.
What is the situation in Japan?
Beside the MSA's patrol vessels, when the JMSDF's ships should be dispatched there are always political restrictions. Even if such dispatch were realized, we cannot expect much of them under present laws. According to international law, ships of the Marine Self-Defense Force and the Maritime Safety Agency (the Coast Guard) can arrest pirates on the high seas, but Japan does not possess any legislations in its criminal law to punish pirates. Therefore, even if pirates are caught Japanese authorities would ultimately have to release them. As happen in March 1999, when Japan missed arresting two North Korean agent boats, Japan's lack of legal authority was evident. The Japanese government needs to enact a law which authorizing the arrest and punishment of pirates, and establish necessary regulations, such as ROE (Rule of Engagement), which governs how to deal with encounters with pirates and how to react against acts of piracy.
Measures for the Future
Self-defense measures by ships have been promoted with various ideas, including improvement of ship security systems and installation of automatic alarm systems (seajacking alarm), so we can expect more progress in the future.
Both technological and economic support by the countries which utilize sea-lanes to enable the coastal countries to obtain the infrastructure essential for prevention and restraint of the piracies in their own territorial waters, is indispensable. Meanwhile, it is essential, also, to ask the coastal countries for improvement of their capabilities to combat piracy and armed robbery, and rationalization of their crime reporting procedures, including that for piracy.
What came to light in the Rainbow's case is that the present laws and regimes are not effective enough against pirates backed by international criminal groups, and that closer international cooperation is needed. In the future, a very important measure must focus on an international cooperation system, including information exchange, joint patrols, cooperative engagement procedures when piracies occur, and common rules for the punishment of arrested pirates. For this legislation, the Rome Convention of 1988, which provided international cooperation for the seajacking restraint, might become the foundation.
Regarding information exchange, in addition to the IMB's activities and use of the diplomatic channels, each country needs to establish hotlines between related organizations in each country, and to establish a national information center, which intensively controls domestic information.
