A pirataria marítima no golfo da Guiné e a posição de São Tomé e Príncipe quanto à relação jurídica sancionatória.

Abstract

Many have judged maritime piracy to be past achievements - times of pirate battles and glories, where there was competition for riches and territories - but it turns out that the case does not correspond to reality, since these fact and actions are still present, generating direct and significant consequences in the market activities and in the world economy. Therefore, since the 1990s, pirate actions have become a reality on the east coast of the African continent, especially in the region known as the "African horn". However, today the problem is growing on the western margin of the continent, especially in the Gulf of Guinea, a fact that is calling into question major international shipping routes, the exploration and transportation of oil in the region, creating a climate of insecurity in the Atlantic. The present research has as its scope the analytical contribution of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and the formalized positioning of São Tomé and Príncipe to curb such practice, since Article 101 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea brings in its bulk the principle of universal jurisdiction to combat the crime of piracy. Legitimizing any state the competence of imprisonment and trial of pirates, however, due to material insufficiency and legal gaps, there is negligence in this commitment. Southeast Asia and the Gulf of Guinea are the regions of the globe that have the highest rates of pirate activity, according to statistics submitted by the maritime authorities, which represent "half" of attacks reported to the different centers that combat maritime piracy, eventhough the case is not being taken so seriously by several countries. The aim here is to analyze and recognize the mechanisms influencing the phenomenon of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and, consequently, to evaluate the legal effects of the act being studied, since it is a region where the main oil producers and exporters of the African continent are located, and in addition to being more vulnerable to the actions of violators because of their location, they have an extremely inadequate internal structure in order to maintain regional maritime safety.