APPENDIX C

A Sample of a Students Term Paper (General Topic)

SAMPLE
Topic:
Piracy in Somalia
Thesis Statement:
The international community should get involved in eliminating piracy in Somalia.

To most, the mere mention of the word pirate sends an image of Johnny
Depp acting as the drunken infamous Captain Jack Sparrow in the movie
Pirates of the Carribean, who merrily travels around the world having funny
adventures with his best pal, the handsome Orlando Bloom. In real life though,
piracy is a serious problem faced by not only Somalia but the rest of the world as
well and the situation is not getting any better. In fact, in 2008 alone, there were
more than 100 reported pirate attacks on unsuspecting ships passing through the
Gulf of Aden (double the amount of cases reported in the previous year); 40 of
which were successfully hijacked (Bbc.com). These Somali pirates have gained
over $150 million dollars during the 12 months prior to November 2008
(Wikipedia.com) and has cost shipping companies all over the world an
estimated of $60-70 million dollars of losses last year (Bbc.com). That is why,
with this problem getting increasingly alarming, the international community
should start getting involved in eliminating piracy in Somalia.
First of all, the international community should get involved in eliminating
piracy in Somalia simply because Somalia is incapable of doing so on its own.
One of the reasons for this is that Somalia does not have a long term functioning
government. According to Roger Middleton in his briefing paper entitled Piracy in
Somalia, their Current Transitional Government is incapable of providing or
facilitating an effective coastguard to curb piracy because it lacks the capacity,
funds and support from its people. Secondly, referring to The World Almanac,
Somalia is a country plagued by famine, drought and war. Somalia has been
suffering from famine for a long time and the lack of clean, uncontaminated water

does not help the situation either. In fact, it causes the Somalis to suffer from
various food and water borne diseases such as bacterial and protozoa diarrhoea.
Recurring droughts, frequent dust storms, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion
and desertification overwhelms Somalia as well (http://www.worldalmanac.com/ ).
Additionally, due to the ongoing civil war in Somalia, as mentioned in
Wikipedia.com, there are about 1.1 million people who are internally displaced by
the war and are considered refugees.
Another reason why Somalia is incapable of fighting piracy on its own is
because the civilians are thought to be dangerously aggressive. In fact, Somalia
is one of the very few countries in the world that allows their people to purchase
and use arms. And with all these arms freely available throughout the country, it
is not surprising to find that there are frequent reports of violence in the region
(i.e. murders, explosions, battles and kidnappings) (Middleton, 9). So with all the
violence and aggression happening in Somalia, it is only wise to infer that the
Somalis are definitely unfit to combat piracy on their own.
Lastly, Somalia is incapable of eliminating piracy without the help of the
international community because, in truth, the Somalis support these pirates.
According to the article, Somali Pirates Tell Their Side: They only want money
written by Jeffrey Gettlemen, these pirates strongly believe that they are doing
the right thing and that the hijacked ships are the ones in the wrong. Also,
Shashank Bengali in his article, Forget Depp: Somali pirates risk all for riches,
women, these pirates are seen as heroes; a profession that comes with fame,
glory as well as wealth. Somali children all dream of being a pirate and
expectedly, Somali women, instead, want to marry one. The payoffs of being a
pirate are so huge that it was recently reported by Rob Crilly in his article, Somali
pirates are paid record $3.5 million ransom for MV Faina, that a ship was being
released for a whopping 3.5 million dollars. The highest amount of ransom
earned so far.
Another reason why the international community should assist Somalia in
eradicating piracy from their seas is because piracy does not only affect Somalia

but the rest of the world as well. Piracy affects the locals in Somalia as,
according to Nuur Sheekh from the World Food Programme, about 3.5 million
Somalis are in need of humanitarian aid (due to insecurity and drought). Around
150, 000 metric tons of food is needed to ensure that at least 1.5 million of these
people are fed over a period of 6 months (http://www.globalhand.org). Therefore,
imported food from the World Food Programme is very much essential. However,
piracy off the coast of Somalia hampers the successful deliverance of this food
aid (Wikipedia.com).
It also affects the rest of the world as well because international trade is
being severely affected and piracy poses a potential threat to the environment.
Firstly, in Miles Costellos article, Shipping insurance cost soars with piracy surge
in Somalia, he mentioned that due to increasing reports on piracy as well as the
sharp rise of insurance premiums in this year alone, (whereby these insurance
premiums have become 10 times more expensive) the cost of transporting goods
will then inevitably increase. And with the swelling oil prices and increased cost of
transporting goods, it can only be logically assumed that goods all over the world
will be a lot pricier.
Secondly, in Roger Middletons briefing paper on Piracy in Somalia, he
says that pirate attacks can lead to an environmental catastrophe because
assaults on oil tankers pose a tangible threat for a massive oil spill to happen
when oil supplies are accidentally penetrated during an attack. These oil spills
devastate marine life and are almost impossible to clean afterwards. For
example, during an attack on a Japanese oil tanker, the Takayama, the fuel tanks
were penetrated, thus causing a leakage of oil into the sea (Middleton, 9).
Lastly, the international community should aid Somalia in removing piracy
off Somalias shores because the international community is basically the worlds
best bet to eliminate this problem altogether. This is because, firstly, the
international community has the sufficient funds and capacity to do so. Unlike
Somalia, who has a weak Transitional Federal Government (Wikipedia.com), the
international community is made out of powerful nations that have enough

resources as well as the competency to do so. This is because, the international

community is made up of influential and capable countries such as the Group of
8 (the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the
United Kingdom) who are the superpowers of the world and are more than able
to help Somalia out of this rut.
Secondly,

unlike

Somalias

weak,

short

term

government,

the

international community is able to combat piracy by carrying out several effective

measures. For example, an efficient coastguard for Somalia could be established
by the international community. This coastguard could also be internationally
authorized and managed as well as controlled by either the UN or the African
Union (Middleton, 10). Also, with an effective coastguard patrolling the seas, it
can be presumed that reports on piracy will decrease.
Another effective measure that could be taken up by the international
community to eliminate piracy altogether is to provide Somalia with a large naval
presence with an explicit order to battle piracy. A large devoted fleet specifically
sent to the Gulf of Aden to eliminate piracy will definitely reduce the occurrence
of attacks off the coast of Somalia as it threatens these pirates influence
(Middleton, 10).
In conclusion, the international community should definitely play a role in
the fight against piracy as, first of all, Somalia is incapable of doing so on its own
due to the fact that a long term functioning government is absent in Somalia and
that the Somalis are unfit to do so due to their aggressive nature and their
support for the local pirates. Additionally, piracy also not only affects Somalia (by
threatening their food stocks) but the rest of the world as well as it damages
international trade and could cause significant harm to the environment. Lastly,
the international community is basically the worlds best bet in solving this
predicament as they have the sufficient funds and capacity to take effective
measures to curb this problem. Therefore, the international community should
definitely get involved in eliminating piracy off the coast of Somalia.