Remaining outside of UNCLOS regime restricts U.S. counter-piracy options

The convention provides two essential and immediate components for responding to piracy off the coast of Somalia. First, the convention permits any state to arrest pirates, seize pirate vessels, and prosecute pirates in the courts of the interdicting naval authority. Second, and equally important, the convention protects the sovereign rights of ocean-going states that participate in antipiracy naval operations in the territorial seas of failed states such as Somalia. This is critical for build- ing international naval flotillas for combating the growing pirate problem in the Indian Ocean.