Prosecuting Juvenile Piracy Suspects

Duncan Gaswaga, a former judge of the Seychelles Supreme Court who has presided over numerous piracy trials, asked the following question: What is a judge to do when a bearded piracy suspect facing justice asserts that he is fourteen? This book addresses this important question by focusing on the treatment of juvenile piracy suspects under international law within national prosecutorial regimes. Beginning with the modern-day Somali piracy model, and exploring the reasons for piracy organizers and financiers to have employed Somali youth as pirates, author Milena Sterio analyzes the relevant international legal framework applicable to the treatment of juvenile criminal suspects, such as international human rights law, international criminal law, including the statutes of several international and ad hoc tribunals, as well as legal issues related to the use of child soldiers, as a parallel to the use of child pirates.

This volume examines recent national piracy prosecutions involving juvenile suspects in Germany, Spain, India, Italy, Malaysia, the Seychelles, and the United States, developing a set of recommendations and best practices for all piracy prosecuting nations dealing with juvenile suspects to refer to in developing their national policy toward the treatment of juvenile piracy suspects.

Milena Sterio is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Enrichment at Cleveland State University's Marshall College of Law, USA. Her research interests are in the field of international law, international criminal law, international human rights, law of the seas, as well as private international law. She is author of The Right to Self-Determination under International Law (Routledge, 2012), and co-editor of Prosecuting Maritime Piracy: Domestic Solutions to International Crime (Cambridge University Press, 2015). Professor Sterio was the recipient of the Fulbright academic award for spring 2013 and spent a semester researching at Baku State University in Baku, Azerbaijan. Over the past five years, Professor Sterio has established herself as one of the most prominent and influential experts in the field of maritime piracy. She has participated in the work of the United Nations' Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, and is a member of the Piracy Working Group, an academic think tank created within the auspices of the Public International Law and Policy Group. Her academic work has been cited in two piracy prosecutions in the United States' federal courts.