EU parliament acts to criminalize piracy

The EU Parliament transport committee has presented a resolution where piracy should be considered a criminal act. Today, it is defined as an act of war and this makes it difficult for armed forces to arrest pirates and bring them to justice. The resolution comes when defence counsels for the pirates arrested by the French navy claim that the arrest is an illegal act under international law. If the pirates are prisoners of war, they have the right to protection under the Geneva Convention.