Jones Day advises the government of the Seychelles how to amend its penal code to support prosecution of pirate financiers

Client(s) Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG)

Piracy on the high seas has developed into a complex and lucrative economy, bringing wealth not only to pirate crews, but also to those who provide funding and resources to those crews. Due to a lack of institutional capacity and rule of law in Somalia, the Somali government is largely unable to combat piracy, leaving the Seychellois government as the only arbiter in the Gulf of Eden. Recently, the Public International Law & Policy Group, which provides pro bono legal assistance to members of the Seychelles government and judicial sector on issues related to maritime piracy, tasked Jones Day with recommending how the Seychelles could amend its penal code to prosecute non-national financiers of piracy. Jones Day researched and drafted a legal memorandum outlining the various jurisdictional bases that could support prosecution of piracy financiers, provided proposed amended provisions, and examined the extradition process enabling prosecutors to enforce the amended provisions.