Shoot-to-kill guidelines needed for guards protecting UK ships from pirates, say MPs

Parliamentary committee calls for government guidance on use of lethal force against Somali attackers
Members of a UK parliamentary committee have called on the government to provide clear guidelines on whether armed guards protecting UK ships can kill Somali pirates during an attack.

Parliamentary committee calls for government guidance on use of lethal force against Somali attackers
Members of a UK parliamentary committee have called on the government to provide clear guidelines on whether armed guards protecting UK ships can kill Somali pirates during an attack.
Prime Minister David Cameron last year gave permission for UK ships in waters off East Africa to use private armed guards. However, a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report, Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, published this week, calls for official guidance on the use of lethal force.
The report says: “The government was right to permit private armed guards to defend British-flagged shipping against Somali pirates, but its guidance on the legal use of force lacks critical detail.
“The question anyone would ask is, if a private armed guard on board a UK-flagged vessel sees an armed skiff approaching at high speed, can the guard open fire? The government must provide clearer direction on what is permissible and what is not.”
The risk to pirates of serious consequences is “still too low to outweigh the lucrative rewards from piracy”, the all-party committee says, adding that over the past four years, average ransoms had risen from US$600,000 to $4.7 million per vessel.
Though some ships have begun taking “more robust” measures to defend themselves, pirates still face few repercussions for their actions, the report says.
In cases where pirates are detained, some 90% are released without charge, it adds, suggesting that there is no reason why the UK cannot assert jurisdiction over suspected pirates.
Simply returning suspected pirates to their boats or to land “provides little long-term deterrence and has demonstrably failed to prevent annual increases in both the number of pirates going to sea and in the number of attacks”.
Committee Chairman Richard Ottaway said it was unacceptable that a large area of of the Indian Ocean had become “a no-go area for small vessels, and a dangerous one for commercial shipping”.
He added: “There is a clear need to take decisive action. Naval forces cannot hope to police such a large area. Shipowners must take responsibility for their own protection, and the government must let them.”
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the report would be discussed at a meeting next month.
“We will use the London Conference on Somalia to chart a way forward on the future political direction of Somalia, the vital humanitarian effort and the international community’s approach to tackling piracy,” he said.