PIRACY
Lucie Konečná
GLCb2026 Africas Contemporary Security
Challenges
17/4/2024
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 party to the convention. States with coastlines nave asterisks.
• Eritrea*Angola*
Belize*
Bhutan
£ 3 Burundi
| Cameroon*
^p, Central African Republic
| | Chad
^ m Colombia*
jjgj Democratic Republic of the Congo*
EM East Timor*
~ Gabon*
D H a i t r
Indonesia*
n Kyrgyzstan
**— Malaysia*
^ Nepal
i s North Korea*
B Papua New Guinea*
5 Rwanda
Sierra Leone*
Solomon Islands*
Somalia*
South Sudan
Suriname*
Thailand*
Venezuela*
Zambia
Zimbabwe
JANUARY - DECEMBER 2022
HQNumber of
incidents
reported:
115
incidents
ATTEMPTED
FIRED UPON
BOARDED
HIJACKED
Piracy - Trends
2022
Impact on crew:
ASSAULTED
T H R E A T E N E D
O S T A G E
I D N A P P E D
950
/0
OF VESSELS ATTACKED
WERE BOARDED
Number of incidents reported:
ATTEMPTED ^fil
FIRED UPON L
120
BOARDED
HIJACKED
Impact on crew:
ASSAULTED
THREATENED
HOSTAGE
KIDNAPPED
NJURED
iracy- Trends
2023
Piracy Trends - 2024 (January March)
Waters off Somalia
Reported Incidents
5
/
l /0
V
Ql Ql Ql Ql Ql
2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1MB PIRACY REPORT
JANUARY - MARCH 2024
Number of incidents reported:
W V • ATTEMPTED
3 3 • FIRED UPON
• BOARDED
• HIJACKED
Since then, at least | ] have been attacked
according to analysis of datafromAmbrey
Analytics, mostly in the southern Red Sea.
Timeline of Red Sea attacks
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
PHILIPPINES. 9
TABLE 8: Types of violence t» crew, January - December 2019 - 2023
Typ* of Violence 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Hostage 59 34 8 41 73
[<I i l L11; I -| 11 : 1 134 57 2 14
I'hreatened 6 a y 6 10
Assaulted 3 5 3 6 1
Injured - 9 4 4
Killed 1 1
Total at year cud 210 191 S2 55 102
Piracy - Trends
Location 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 AFRICA Algeria 1
S E ASIA Indonesia 25 2<5 9 10 IS
Angola
Benin
6
11
4
2
5 3
Malacca Straits I 1 Cameroon 6 1 3
1 1 4 2 4 Dem. Republic ofCon^o 1 1 1
Philippines 5 8 9 6 9 Dein, Rep. of Sao Tome & Principe 1 2 5
Singapore Straits 12 23 35 3S 37 I 1
Thailand 1
Equaavial Guinea
2 2 2Thailand 1
Gabon ] 2 4 1
EAST ASIA China 3 Ghana 3 9 7 6
Vietnam 2 4 1 2 3 Guinea j 5 3 2
INDIAN SUB Bangladesh 4 7 1 Gulf of Aden* I
CONTINENT India 4 6 2 3 4 Ivory Coast 1 3
2
SOUTH AMERICA Brazil 7 5 1 KtilLVH 1
Colombia 1 6 2
Liberia 2 2 1 1
Colombia 1 6 2 Morocco 2
Dominican Republic 1 Mozambique 3 4 1 2E- ct Lrttior .i 4 1 Nigeria 35 35 6
2Guyana
2 Siena Leone 1 1
2Haiti 2 4 1 Somalia* 1
Mexico 1 4 1 1
South Africa 1
Mexico 1 4 1 1 "(lie Congo 3 3 t 1
Pan,! ni-i 1 1 Togo 3
Pern 10 8 IS 12 14 REST WORLD (IF WORT.» Iraq 1
Venezuela 6 3 Total ul ye hi end
162 195 132 115 120
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 (weak states - ineffective
courts of the corrupt elite)
- Oil exploitation
Fig. 1.2: Population (in millions) Living
Extreme Poverty
30.3
Remainder of
ECCAS (Central Africa)
crt rt P&rnaincfer of
ECOWAS (W«t 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.
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 (2021/2022).
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
MecTiterranSÍi TO,ft .
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Pirate ship sunk - i
Y E M E N J L / G u f / o r
Aden
SOMALIA "
ETHIOPIA DEyl
HarardhereD
Hadiboh
Mogadishu^ •
KENYA
indián
Ocean
MombasaD
r
im)ia\ c)c:i-:,vs
I Source: European Naval Force • • H
SOCOTEU Higghler
MorniULlns TANZANIA
kilometres
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 Prosperity, Dep Blue Project and Yaounde Code of
Conduct.
MEND - The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger D< cuIf of Guinea Kidnappings Increased as Oil Prices Fe
Data from stable Seas
UN Resolution 2634. • 8 « ^ ™ ^ - a ™ * * ™ ™ *
2DO
!Q00 2015 2(120
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
Deep Blue Project 2021
Maritime Security Units (MSU) - comprising personnel from the Nigerian Navy
Nigerian Army Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police, and Department of State
Services.
The land assets include the Command, Control, Communication, Computer, and
Intelligence Centre (C4i) for intelligence gathering and data collection; 16
armoured vehicles for coastal patrol; and 600 specially trained troops for
interdiction, known as Maritime Security Unit. The sea assets include two
Special Mission Vessels and 17 Fast Interceptor Boats. The air assets comprise
two Special Mission Aircraft for surveillance of the country's Exclusive Economic
operations; and four U
Piracy in Gulf of Guinea
EVOLUTION OF MARITIME PIRACY
SINCE 2005:
2005>2009
^ ROBBERY
KIDNAPPING
ftj HIJACKING
30 N. MILES
ffflWSMf
MILITANCY
10QN.MILES
MOMSHORE
EVOLUTION OF ABDUCTION SIMCE 2015:
SOURCE HDAT Í0C
201Ů 2017 2018 2019 2020
o o
PIRACY IN G U L F O F GUINEA
Piracy in Gulf of Guinea
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
Thank you for your
attention