ABSTRACT
Somali piracy is a serious economic and humanitarian problem, that arose a decade ago off the coast of Somalia, and that has proliferated to the West African Coast, to the Gulf of Guinea, as well as to parts of Asia. Piracy attacks are typically organized by businessmen in London or Dubai, and executed by Somali youth, desperate to make a living and often unaware of the dangers associated with piracy. The international community has invested significant efforts in the global fight against Somali piracy; these efforts include both law enforcement operations as well as prosecutorial efforts. In several national prosecutions of Somali piracy suspects, at least some of the suspects have claimed juvenile status. Some prosecuting nations, for lack of concrete legal solutions to this issue, have treated all suspects within the same group as juveniles and have transferred such cases to juvenile courts.
