Maritime piracy: Why definitions matter

By 

Lisa Otto 

lisa picture

Industry stakeholders and government officials from various countries met in London on 23 and 24 September to discuss maritime piracy in in West Africa under an inative organised by the America-based Oceans Beyond Piracy.  With piratical act in the Gulf of Guinea rendering these waters some of the most dangerous in the world, threatening economic and security imperatives in the region of geostratefic importance; this issue was the focus of the discussion.

Following the meetings, in a conversation with one government official in attendance, the question of defining piracy was raised and the wide range of definitions varying in scope were highlighted.  It was, however, decided that these interpretations had sufficient commonality for any fine -tuning to be set aside.

This, in my opinion, is an oversight and one that challenges how the problem may be approached.  To provide background here, it is worth noting how piracy is defined, and why events in West Africa occur on the periphery of this definition.

International law under Article 101 of the United Nations Law of the Sea of 1982 holds that piracy is any violence, detention or depredation that take place on the high seas, is perpetrated for private gain, and gain, and occurs between at least two vessels.  Much of this definition is based on law used to combat piracy during the so -called golden age in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as an interpretation emanating for the Harvard Draft, compiled  by academics in 1932.

In West Africa acts of piracy predominately take place in territorial waters, and have been perpetrated for motives that enmesh private gain, through organised criminal activity, with political grounds and forms of protest.  On this basis, and unless expressly defined as piracy under the domestic law of the country in whose waters these acts take place, the internationally accepted definition can really not be applied here.  In short, the use of the word piracy to describe these acts is mostly inaccurate and constitutes a misnomer. Nonetheless, scholars, government institutions, oil majors and shipping companies tend to refer to acts of robbery- at – sea and associated crimes as piracy, often for ease of reference.

While this approach make the phenomenon perhaps easier to categorize, what it fails to acknowledge is that the acts in West African waters present distinct model of piracy, which, although having similarities to other manifestations of the phenomenon, presents itself in a unique way.  Of course, the word that we used to describe things are of utmost importance because they inform the way in which we understand them, and also often attach automatic assumptions and expectations. The key to being able to address piracy successfully is then in understanding differences within the phenomenon and appreciating the idiosyncrasies at play in various maritime domains.

Questions of piracy are further complicated by a dearth of domestic legislation in affected West African countries, which stems from sea-blindness- the failure to appreciate the sea as a political and economic domain that requires securitising.  Not only does a legal framework often not exist under which prosecutions can take place, the lack of such framework underscore a shortfall in understanding amongst the various officials whose job it now becomes to tackle maritime insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea.  Moreover, the international definition is this also inadequate to serve as guidance for these countries in building their own understanding and addressing piratical acts in their territorial waters.

As this is a problem that is affecting numerous countries within the Gulf in Guinea sub- region (although mainly emanating from Nigeria), states are also likely to take different routes to solving this definitional problem when attempting to construct framework for countering piracy .  While there is a regional appetite for cooperation amongst states, this may in itself present a stumbling block in what routes regional platforms may have for their collective security.

There is an impression that due to the difficult nature of the task of fine- tuning definitions to be more inclusive of various manifestations of piracy, alongside the struggle in achieving consensus, it is considered too onerous a task, and one for which attendees at these September meetings simply did not have the enthusiasm.

The question of definition may seem a minor element of the issue at hand and consideration of being clearer on the words we use may be considered trivial, but is it important that there at least be some attempt at getting these basics right – once an understanding on what the problem, and could present an opportunity for streamlining of definition and method, bolstering a coppertative approach, which will go a long way towards achieving a shared vision on immediate and long- term actions to be taken.

 

Somalia End of Piracy

Maritime Piracy in West Africa – A Big Problem, Poorly Reported

 By Lisa Otto

Visiting Researcher – Greenwich Maritime Institute

D.Phil Candidate – University of Johannesburg

african pirates

The problem of maritime piracy in West Africa has grown significantly in recent years such that it has come to constitute the world’s most troubling piratical hotspot, with incidents occurring across the Gulf of Guinea region. According to the UK Chamber of Shipping, incidents climbed to 62 in 2012 while coming in at 51 in 2013, and this as the European Union Institute for Security Studies estimates that only a third of pirate attacks were reported, suggesting that the breadth of the problem may be far greater than we imagine.

The word piracy, however, is a bit of a misnomer in the West African case as the model of piracy at play targets vessels within territorial waters rather than on the high seas, revolving around the sub-region’s oil industry, but has all the same gained the moniker of ‘petro-piracy’.  As such, this model is glaringly distinguishable from its more famous Somali counterpart, which is perhaps one of the reasons that legal expert Douglas Guilfoyle, for one, has preferred to refer to ‘piracies’ rather than the more generalist ‘piracy’.

Indeed, the Gulf of Guinea model of piracy is unique in its focus on oil, with kidnap-for-ransom being conducted as more of a side-business than being the main slant of operations. The vast majority of attacks have emanated from Nigeria, where small and opportunistic gangs initially robbed berthed vessels of personal effects and money, which were then resold at local markets, but since then, incidents have become more frequent, have been perpetrated by larger groups and shifted to be directed specifically toward the oil industry.

The legacy of oil in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in particular has had an important role to play in the rise of petro-piracy as environmental degradation further marginalised communities already bereft of economic opportunities, in the context of a social development landscape where oil rents have not made their way back to the populace in the form of political goods. This has driven locals to organised criminal groups and sent them to sea for the theft of oil products, contributed to by large-scale onshore oil bunkering operations that thieve approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day. In fact, the Nigerian economy loses around US$12 billion in oil annually as a result, with the illicit product, sometimes crudely refined, making its way into sub-regional and international markets.

Despite the sheer scale of these activities, West African piracy does not enjoy nearly as much media coverage or academic attention as its erstwhile Somali counterpart. Perhaps oil theft and petro-piracy is not as ‘sexy’ to report on than Hollywood-worthy Captain Phillips-esque hostage sagas, but the phenomenon nonetheless presents a sizeable economic and security challenge whose impacts reach far beyond Nigerian shores.

This, of course, has consequences for the application of solutions to the problem, as poor reportage may impact upon the will of potential partners to act. Having said this however, several instruments for the combat of piracy are in place at a sub-regional level, assisted by the likes of the International Maritime Ogranisation, but need greater impetus for their application.

This is not helped by the alarming prevalence of corruption in Nigeria, with political and military officials, as well as even oil companies being implicated and involved in these crimes, effectively benefiting from competing interests on either side of formal – informal and legal – illegal divides. Whilst these issues speak to more complex and deeply entrenched maladies of the country’s political fabric which need solving in their right, greater awareness of the problem of maritime piracy in West African can play a crucial role in mounting public pressure to fight against the tide of petro-piracy there, and spur a greater sense of willingness for action amongst actors locally, those in the sub-region as well as their partners in the international community.

 

incident map

 

GMI PhD student provides data for new report about state of maritime piracy

Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), a project of One Earth Future Foundation, has launched the fourth installment of its annual reports detailing the economic and human costs of African maritime piracy. The study titled ‘The State of Maritime Piracy 2013’ examines the costs incurred as a result of piracy off the coast of Somalia as well as in the Gulf of Guinea.

GMI student Dirk Siebels has provided unique insights about the private maritime security industry for the report. For his PhD research about maritime security issues in East and West Africa, he is working in close cooperation with the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI) and large flag states, collecting data about armed security teams on merchant vessels.

The new OBP report finds that attacks by Somali pirates are increasingly rare an that, at between $3 billion to $3.3 billion, the overall economic costs of Somali piracy are down almost 50 percent from 2012. Regarding Africa’s west coast, this report is the first comprehensive attempt by any organisation to quantify the total economic cost of maritime piracy in that region. Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea remained a significant danger in 2013, says the report, with levels perpetuated by a lack of open reporting and a lack of coordinated effort among stakeholders.

At $1 billion to $1.2 billion, the costs for security equipment and armed guards are significantly lower than in 2012 but are now the largest chunk. Moreover, they are a significant burden on the shipping industry. While there have been a lot of efforts towards regulation and certification for private maritime security companies, it is still a very young industry and only very few reliable figures are available.

‘The statistical data I have gathered together with SAMI and other sources is an invaluable contribution to ongoing discussions about private security at sea,’ says Dirk Siebels. Over the past couple of months, he has presented his research findings at various conferences and registered a lot of interest, both from the commercial sector and from government organisation.

The new OBP report ‘The State of Maritime Piracy 2013’ can be found here:

http://oceansbeyondpiracy.org/publications/state-maritime-piracy-2013

 

To find out more about Dirk’s research, you can contact him at d.siebels@greenwich.ac.uk.

A Student Perspective: IMO in Africa, piracy and the way forward

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the global regulating maritime organization, consisting of 170 member countries with 37 from the African region.

Piracy has increasingly threatened the maritime transport in Africa, particularly in places like the Gulf of Guinea and the Gulf of Aden.

The International Maritime Bureau indicates that piracy is on a steady decline since 2006 on a global scale. It opined that piracy attacks off the coast of Somali dropped to an all-time low of 10 attacks from January 2013 to September 2013 whereas about 70 attacks was recorded or between the same period of 2012.

This drastic drop in piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden was attributed to increased naval presence in this region and the increase in number of vessels compliance with IMO’s Best Management Practices BMP4) along the High Risk Areas (HRA) and the successful implementation of the Djibouti code of conduct which aims to enhance a regional cooperation, to eradicate, prosecute and punish criminals against ships in the region.

However, the situation is different in the Gulf of Guinea: 40 piracy attacks were recorded between January and September 2013, 132 crew members were held hostage, and 7 vessels hijacked. Pirates in this region are equally heavily armed as their counterparts in the Gulf of Aden.

The major difference between the phenomenons of piracy in both regions (arguably) is that the business module of pirates in the Gulf of Aden is attacking vessels, taking captain and crew members hostage, and then demanding for ransom from the ship company. This is to say, pirates in the Gulf of Aden are strictly after money and careless about the ship, cargo and others.

The situation is, however, different with pirates in the Gulf of Guinea. They prefer to attack vessels, usually oil tankers and scoop fuel, steal money as well as take crew hostage (in the process of stealing the fuel). They are concerned with virtually everything valuable on board the ship, cargo, money etc.

The IMO has over the years worked with west and central Africa, which lead to the creation of Maritime Organization for West and Central Africa (MOWCA). It aims to a establish an integrated coast guard network not only to fight piracy but also to curb illegal fishing and armed robbery on the sea.

The International Maritime Organization has taking series of efforts at curbing the trends of piracy in Africa. In the Gulf of Aden, piracy has been on the decline, however there have been arguments from some quarters that the reduction in pirate activities in the region is largely due to the under reporting of piracy incidents and is not exactly a true reflection of the situation.

With the various programs and training initiated by the International Maritime Organization, if African leaders can give their full cooperation and are fully aware of the consequences of allowing piracy spread like cancer throughout the continent, then there will be a decrease of piracy in the region in the next 10 years.

Eniola Ogundele, MA International Maritime Policy

GMI PhD student talks about private maritime security at conference in Gdansk

With his presentation about challenges for private and naval operations in African waters, Dirk Siebels was the GMI’s representative at MAST Europe in Gdansk from 4 to 6 June. His talk was an insight into his PhD research and attracted a number of questions from senior naval officers and defence industry representatives in the audience.

Maritime Systems and Technology (MAST) is one of the most important conferences for the maritime security sector. The tenth edition of MAST was held in Poland’s largest port city Gdansk. More than 700 attendees from 40 nations attended the conference. Presentations included a number of highly specialised topics, ranging from autonomous underwater vehicles to countermeasures against pirate attacks.

In his presentation, Dirk compared developments in maritime security in East and West Africa. Highlighted by the rise of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea, he explained efforts undertaken by the United States and the European Union and pointed out future challanges for navies and private security providers.

Regarding the use of private maritime security companies (PMSCs), the main focus was on differences between operations in East and West Africa. Another important aspect for an audience that included senior officers from various European navies was the cooperation between private companies and naval forces in the Indian Ocean.

The next part of Dirk’s presentation were efforts at regulation of PMSCs as well as measuring their performance. Currently, there are very different rules and regulations in different flag states yet there is no data regarding the actual performance of armed guards on merchant ships. For his research, Dirk is cooperating with the Security Association of the Maritime Industry (SAMI) and the Marshall Islands shipping registry. As the third-biggest flag state, the Marshall Islands are taking a keen interest in measuring the quality of security teams onboard their vessels and have developed a questionnaire for ship operators and masters.

At the end of his talk, Dirk gave a brief outlook to the future of private maritime operations. After the industry has grown into a billion-dollar industry within just a few years, it seems unlikely that it will go away as soon as the piracy problems on both sides of the African continent are under control. Oil and gas production is moving more and more offshore, even East African countries such as Mozambique or Tanzania are on the verge of becoming major exporters. It may open up another potential market for private security providers. There are, however, a lot of legal and other challenges involved so it will remain an interesting topic for the foreseeable future.

GMI Short Course Programme 2012

We are delighted to announce that we are running an exciting short course programme again this year which covers a variety of historical and contemporary subjects.

• Maritime Crime: There’s Wreckers About – Saturday 9th June – £60

• Silencing the Silent Service?: Naval Propaganda and Censorship during the Second World War – Thursday 14th June – £60

• ‘Enemies of All Humanity’: Sea Piracy A Modern Perspective – Saturday 16th June – £60

• Caricature and the Navy during the Eighteenth Century – Thursday 28th June – £60

• Baroque Navies at War: Britain, the Netherlands and France 1688-1713 – Friday 29th and Saturday 30th June – £120

• China’s Rise as a Powerful Maritime Nation: Factors and Influences – Friday 20th July – £60

Everyone is welcome to register for these courses so please do feel free to register yourself or pass on to anyone else you think may be interested. You can find more information about each course and a registration form on our website: http://bit.ly/wATcht

Limerick Lecture – ‘Piracy: Then and Now’

You are cordially invited to the annual Limerick Lecture at London Metropolitan Business School. The event will take place on Tuesday 29th of November 5.30 for 6.00 pm.  Proceedings shall commence with a presentation on Piracy: Then and Now by Professor Christopher Bellamy, Director Greenwich Maritime Institute, University of Greenwich and chaired by Dr. Robyn Pyne. This will be followed by a presentation ceremony of student prizes for the graduating class of 2011 and a networking reception.  

RSVP Dr. Reza Mirmiran r.mirmiran@londonmet.ac.uk

Tel: 02073201576

Venue: Room MG1.17
           London Metropolitan University
           84 Moorgate, London EC2M 6SQ

MV Iceberg – Hostages released after 19 months

On Tuesday 25th October, MV Iceberg, along with 23 hostages has been released from Somali pirates after 19 months with the help of Dubai Government.
The ship carried a crew including people from several countries.
MV Iceberg, a Panama ship, was hijacked by pirates on March 29, 2010 and later demanded 8 million dollars for the release of the ship along with crew.
The chief engineer of the ship had committed suicide after it was hijacked by the Somali pirates.
The BBC made no reference to the release on their website at all and Lloyd’s List published a small article on page 2 in Wednesday’s edition.