Short Study Tour

Some people in our group in front of our bikes on the beach by the North Sea!

Big weekend, big weekend. Thursday morning to Saturday night, we went on “short study tours” with our program classes around Denmark. Essentially, we rode around all of Denmark on Greyhound buses and went to sites that had to do with “War Crimes and Human Rights,” as well as some cultural events that did not. We went to the Navy Marine Police, the Naval base, the Army Marine Police, an architecture museum, some gardens, an art museum, the beach, had a bonfire, went on bike rides through the woods and beach… the list goes on.

Our bike ride through the forest.
My two favorite parts of the weekend were the trip to the Navy Marine Police and the two hour bike ride. Next weekend, I will be going on a weekend bike trip with DIS to Bornhom, Denmark so I will spare my (FIVE!!!!) followers the pain of having to read about two different bike rides and just tell about the Marine Police (MP, as they are called) visit. The two MPs gave us a powerpoint presentation of the situation in Somalia and the ways in which they are combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Both men had been on the ship Absalon when Somalian pirates had been detained two separate times. The first time, ten pirates were detained but after a week, were taken back to Somalia in what was called operation “Silent Night.” The interesting case was from about a year ago. Danish Marine Police pulled over a boat that looked like any other fishing boat (our power point had plenty of actual pictures from the event) but described it as being a typical pirate boat, complete with rats, sewage floating around, guns, explosives, drugs, etc. The MPs detained the pirates and brought them onto the Absalon. It was fascinating hearing the humane way in which the MPs treated the men in order to avoid torture. I got the impression that the pirates actually were treated better than some of the crewmembers. One of the MPs even made the point that these were not bad men, but simply men in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said if he were the Somali men, he would probably do the same to provide for his family. We saw pictures of their living quarters, heard about their wardrobe, their games they played, the food they ate, the jokes they made. The pirates stayed on the Absalon for 34 days before being given to the Netherlands to stand trial and were sentenced to five years in prison. Once again, they were treated fairly and received a sentence of five years in prison as opposed to eight because the Dutch judge realized that five years to these Somali men with no family contacts in the Netherlands would seem like eight years.

Lizzy and I on the dunes.

The MPs explained that the Somali pirates are no more than fishermen without jobs trying to make a living to support their wives (plural. The wealthier the man, the more wives he has.) and children. In the 80s or 90s (I forget the exact date), the United States and Britain (among others) came into the Gulf of Aden and essentially depleted it of its fish, leaving the fishermen with no jobs. These men have no other way of living and slowly piracy has become the answer. It started by just taking over a ship, demanding the fish from the ship, and moving along and over time, the pirates have realized the lucrativeness of demanding a ransom. In a world of towns made of mud huts, when a mad comes back from piracy and can actually buy his family clean water and maybe even some electricity, piracy becomes a popular option. The MPs explained that these men are not hardened criminals, but simply a victim of hard times who have resorted to providing for their family in the only way they know how.

Where's Kat?!

Its amazing how much I did not know about the piracy in Somalia and how interesting it is. I was also astonished at how sympathetic these Danish Marine Police were and am quite curious as to the level of respect and humanity pirates who are detained by other countries receive. Its safe to say, here is an example of where no war crimes were committed but the MPs explained that they had to go to quite lengths to ensure the men were not tortured (including separate living quarters at least 7x7, bathroom facilities, clothing, books, games, religious practices, food, etc.)