PIRACY
Lucie Konečná
GLCb2026 Africas Contemporary Security
Challenges
26/4/2023
Piracy - Definition
• "Piracy is unlawful depredation at sea involving the use or threat of
violence and possibly, but not necessarily robbery.,, (Murphy 2008: 7).
• 1982 - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS):
a. Any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for
private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft,
and directed:
i. On the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property
on board such ship or aircraft.
ii. Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of
any state.
b. Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with
knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft.
c. Any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in subparagraph
(a) or(b).
Piracy - Definition
• IMO "Code of Practice for the Investigation of Crimes of Piracy and Armed Robbery against
Ships" defines Armed Robbery as:
Armed robbery against ships means any of the following acts:
1. any illegal act of violence or detention or any act of depredation, or threat, other
than an act of piracy committed for private ends and directed against a ship or against or
property on board such a ship, within a State's internal waters, archipelagic waters and
territorial sea;
2. any act of inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described above.
• To overcome the distinctions between piracy and armed robbery at sea, the IMO has
combined the two terms in a single definition: „An act of boarding or attempting to
board any ship with the apparent intent or capability to use force in the furtherance
of that act."
Piracy - Definiton
• Under the definitions of Piracy or Armed Robbery, the IMO reports incidents as follows:
1. Boarded: An illegal act of perpetrators successfully gaining access onto the
vessel.
2. Hijacked: An illegal act of perpetrators successfully gaining access onto the
vessel and taking over the control of the vessel from the Master and crew.
3. Fired Upon: An illegal act of perpetrators discharging weapons towards the vessel
while attempting to gain access onto the vessel.
4. Attempted: An illegal act of perpetrators attempting to approach a vessel with
possible intention to board but remain unsuccessful due to the timely actions of the
crew.
• Modern definitions of piracy include the following acts: Boarding without permission,
Extortion, Hostage taking, Kidnapping of people for ransom, Murder, Cargo theft, Robbery
and seizure of items or the ship, Sabotage resulting in the ship subsequently sinking and
Shipwrecking done intentionally to a ship.
Piracy - International Framework
• 1982 - United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• 1988 - SUA - Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the
Safety of Maritime Navigation.
• The Hostages Convention (1979).
• Several UN Security Council resolutions such as:
- Resolution 1816(2008)
- Resolution 1851 (2008)
- Resolution 2634 (2022)
• 1948 - International Maritime Organization (IMO).
• 1981 - International Maritime Bureau (1MB) is a specialized department of the
International Chamber of Commerce.
UNCLOS vs. SUA
The following 29 UN member states are not parly to the convention. States with coastlines nave asterisks.
M§ Angola* * EM Eritrea* * Sierra Leone1
n Belize* * ~ Gabon* • S S Solomon Islands*
^ Bhutan • a H a i t r
* Somalia*
£ 3 Burundi • ^ m
Indonesia* • Mi South Sudan
| Cameroon* * D Kyrgyzstan • E S Suriname*
^p, Central African Republic * b e ; Malaysia* * Thailand*
| | Chad * ^ Nepal • H Venezuela*
^ m Colombia* • n North Korea* * H Zambia
f^j Democratic Republic of the Congo* • Papua New Guinea* • ^ Zimbabwe
EM East Timor* * J ™ Rwanda
JANUARY - DECEMBER 2022
tinsNumber of
incidents
reported:
115
incidents
ATTEMPTED
FIRED UPON
BOARDED
HIJACKED
Piracy - Trends
Impact on crew:
• ASSAULTED
• THREATENED
• HOSTAGE
• KIDNAPPED
9 5 ° / (0
OF VESSELS ATTACKED
WERE BOARDED
Number of pirate attacks against
ships worldwide from 2010 to 2021
500
445 4 3 9
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Piracy - Trends
[ A B L E 1: Locutions of A C T U A L and A T T E M P T E D incidents, January - December
2018-2022
AFRICA Algeria 1[ A B L E 1: Locutions of A C T U A L and A T T E M P T E D incidents, January - December
2018-2022 Angola 6 4 5
[ A B L E 1: Locutions of A C T U A L and A T T E M P T E D incidents, January - December
2018-2022
Benin 5 3 11 2
Location 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Cameroon 7 6 1
S E ASIA Indonesia 36 25 26 9 10 Dem. Republic of Cont;o 1 1 1 1
Malacca Straits 1 Dem. Rep. of Sao Tome & Principe 1 2 5
Malaysia 11 11 4 2 4
Ejiypt 1
Philippines 10 5 8 9 6
Equatorial Guinea 2 3 2 2
Philippines 10 5 8 9 6
Gabon 1 2 4
Singapore Slraits 3 12 23 35 38
Gabon 1 2 4
Singapore Slraits 3 12 23 35 38
Ghana 10 3 9 5 7
Thailand 1
Guinea 3 2 5 3
LAST ASIA China 3 3
Gulf of Aden* 1 1
Vietnam 4 2 4 1 2 Ivory Coast 1 1 3 2
I INDIAN SUB Bangladesh 12 4 7 Kenya 1
CONTINENT India 6 4 6 2 3 Liberia 2 2 1 1
SOUTH A M E R I C A Brazil 4 2 7 3 5 Morocco 2
Colombia 1 3 1 6 Mozambique 2 3 4 1
Dominican Republic 1 Nigeria 48 35 35 6
Ecuador 4 3 5 4 Sierra Leone 1 1
Guyana 2 2 Somalia* 2
Haiti 3 2 5 4 1 South Africa 1
Mexico 1 4 1 1 The Cont;o 6 3 3 1
Panama 1 Tone 1 3 3
Peru 4 10 8 18 12 REST WORLD OF WORLD Iraq 1
Venezuela 11 6 3 Total at year end 201 162 195 132 115
Causes of Piracy
Factors Responsible for the Emergence of Piracy (Johnson 2018)
a) High unemployment rate and high poverty
b) Terrorism - investment in land security
c) Lax coastal and port-side security
d) Endemic anarchic situation and growing conflicts
e) Corruption
f) Global proliferation of small arms
g) Disputes over territorial and maritime boundaries
Root causes of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea:
- Corruption
- Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing
- African Youth and Youth Unemployment
- Governmental Structuring
- Oil exploitation
Fig. 1.2: Population (in millions) Living
Extreme Poverty
30.3
Remainder of
ECCAS (Central Africa)
crt rt P&rnaincfer of
ECOWAS (West Africa)
S6 3
66.3
Nigeria
DR Congo
Anti-piracy Measures
• Several types of anti-piracy measures include:
a) Self-Defense
b) Self-protection Measures
c) Patrol
d) International Legal Framework
e) Local/Domestic Legal Framework
Piracy in Horn of Africa
Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea.
Civil war in Somalia - illegally fishing on the Somali seaboard and ships began
dumping industrial.
Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150).
Most of the attacks in the Horn of Africa took place outside territorial waters.
Expiry of the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) counter-piracy
Resolution 2608 (2022).
IGAD - Intergovernmental Authority on Development - CEWARN
Djibouti Code of Conduct 2009.
S i
• Piracy attacks
S i 0 500 1000 Km
1 1 1
Somali pirate attacks, 2008-2018
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
I Source: European Naval Force • • H
Pirate ship sunk - i
Aden
YEMENJL/Guf/or
l e n ^ f l j l Aden
SOMALIA "
ETHIOPIA DEyl
HarardhereD
Mogadishu^ •
KENYA
indián
Ocean
Mombasaö
Kornau* TANZANIA ' Sirius Star
hijacked
Source: 1MB piracy centre.' Jan-Hov OS
Djibouti Code of Conduct
Operation Atalanta and Ocean Shield
• Other Operations in E A - Combined Task Force 150, Combined Task Force 151,
Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy participation, Operation Copper.
• Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU N A V F O R )
Somalia (2008-present).
• Atalanta tasks:
•Protects vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP), African Union Mission in
Somalia (AMISOM) and other vulnerable shipping;
•Deters and disrupts piracy and armed robbery at sea;
•Monitors fishing activities off the coast of Somalia;
•Supports other EU missions and international organizations working to strengthen
maritime security and capacity in the region.
• Operation Ocean Shield (2009-2016).
Piracy in Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea stretches from Senegal to Angola, covering over 6,000km of coastline. It
comprises 20 coastal states.
Piracy is part of heavily armed criminal enterprises.
Attacks mainly occur in territorial waters, increased after 2014.
Increased targeting of non-African hostages and a criminal shift away from oil theft from tankers
has reduced the costs of these crimes to African nations since the early 2010s.
Counter-piracy measures: Operation Prospertiy, Dep Blue Project and Yaounde Code of
Conduct.
MEND - The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger D< cu If of Guinea Kidnappings Increased as Oil Prices Fell
Data from stable Seas
UN Resolution 2634. • 8 « ^ ™ ^ - a ™ * * ™ ™ *
2DO
!Q00 2015 2(120
EVOLUTION OF MARITIME PIRACY
SINCE 2005:
2005>2009
^ ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
ftj HIJACKING
30 N. MILES
ffflWSMf
MILITANCY
10QN.MILES
MOM SHORE
EVOLUTION OF ABDUCTION SIMCE 2015:
SOURCE HDAT Í0C
201Ů 2017 2018 2019 2020
o o
PIRACY IN G U L F O F GUINEA
Sierra
Leone
Yaounde
Code of
Conduct
Architecture of
the Yaounde Code
Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre
Zone G - Praia, Cabo Verde
Abidjan, Cote d'luoire
© Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre
Zone F-Accra, Ghana
Zone E - Contonou, Benin
Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre
Zone D - Douala, Cameroon
Yaounde, Cameroon
Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo
Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre
Zone A - Luanda, Angola
Piracy in Gulf of Guinea
Kidnapping incidents 2021 (source 1MB PRC)
Date Country Location Type of vessel Crew
kidnapped
23 Jan Sao Tome and
Principe
98 nrn N W of Sao Tome
Island
Container ship 15
8 Feb G a b o n 83 nm W S W of Port Gentil Fishing vessel 10
11
Mar
Benin 212 nrn South of Cotonou Chemical tanker 15
19
May
Ghana 66 nm South of Tema Fishing vessel 5
31
May
Benin 1 04 nm South of Cotonou Fishing vessel 5
5 Sep G a b o n At O w e n d o Inner
Anchorage
Offshore supply
vessel
1
13
Dec
Equatorial Guinea 46 nm S W of Luba Container ship 6
Comparision of Piracy in EA and WA
Source: 1MB PRC
AFRICA
140
No of incidents in West Africa /Gurf of Guinea No of incidents in rest of Africa —•—No of kidnapped crew members
Piracy vs. Maritime Terrorism
• Achille Lauro 1985 - SUA - Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts
against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.
• Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) defines maritime
terrorism as "the conduct of terrorist acts and activities (1) within the maritime
environment, (2) by means of or against ships or fixed platforms at sea or in port
or against their personnel or passengers, (3) against offshore installations or
settlements, including tourist resorts, port areas and port cities."
• Definition of piracy and maritime terrorism:
(a) Actor motivations/OC vs. terrorism
b) motivation + violence/ maritime violence
c) violent attacks defined by law, nature of the act and method of
attack/SUA (Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the
Safety of Maritime Navigation) vs. UNCLOS (Convention on the Law of the
Sea)
• „Pirates are criminals who commit violence in pursuit of financial gain, while
terrorists are persons who use violence as a means to achieve political ends.
They exploit the maritime domain because it provides them with the opportunity
to achieve these goals."
Piracy vs. Maritime Terrorism
Maritime Piracy and Terrorism Incidents, 2002-2012
Maritime Piracv Incidents
Maritime Terrorfsm Incidents
1 1 4 4 4 3
19
i
15
i
7 2 2
2O0Z 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Z010 2011 2012
Piracy vs. Maritime Terrorism
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XtuPck0b4U
T h a n k y o u for y o u r
a t t e n t i o n