Yesterday I met with representatives from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to discuss the future of counter-piracy and lessons learned from it. A core issue was the IMO-run Djibouti Code of Conduct Process (DCoC). DCoC is one of the major responses to Somali piracy that conducts capacity building in the region in order to ensure the building of institutions that can prevent a long term solution to piracy. The management of DCoC will be re-organized in the coming months, the specific Project Implementation Unit shut down and the work transferred to normal IMO desks. This is on the one hand a clear signal of how mature the DCoC project has become, with one of the final steps, the opening of the training center in Djibouti to be completed this year. On the other hand this development questions whether in future sufficient attention and energy will be invested by the IMO to go further steps in the implementation of DCoC. The visit also allowed for a longer lessons learned interview with Phil Holihead of IMO which is forthcoming with the Lessons Learned Project of the CGPCS.
Category Archives: In the field
In the Field: The African Union and its Maritime Strategy
African Union building
The African Union is increasingly become a lead actor in African Maritime Security. With the conclusion of the African Integrated Maritime Strategy (AIMS) the core challenge is now to implement the ambitious project of strengthening Africa’s blue economy and addressing maritime instability. To discuss the implementation and how the international community can assist the AU, I am travelling to Addis Ababa from the 12th to the 18th of June, for a range of consultations and conversations. I am also attending a workshop organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation on the 16th and 17th which deals with the same manner. The workshop titled “African Approaches to Maritime Security: The AU and Continental Perspective” includes contributions by a range of African maritime security scholars and aims at evaluating the state of maritime security on the continent and identifying priorities.
In the Field: Contact Group Meeting in New York
From May 14th to 17th I am attending the counter-piracy week of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). I primarily attend as a participant observer to further record and study the working practice of the CGPCS, its plenary and its working groups. During the week the reform of the group’s structure and the future of counter-piracy will be discussed. At a side event after the plenary meeting the initial results of the lessons learnt project of the CGPCS (see llp.piracy-studies.org) will be introduced and discussed. I will give a presentation in which I will present some initial findings with regards on the replicability of the CGPCS experience in other contexts.
In the Field: Consultation with NATO’s Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Center
To discuss and finalize the process of a potential contribution of the Big Three for the Lessons Learned Project of the CGPCS I visited NATO’s Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Center (JALLC) in Lisbon, Portugal. The JALLC will most likely take the lead in compiling the lessons of the naval multilateral missions and the Shared Awareness and De-Confliction Mechanism (SHADE) by which the naval contributions in the Gulf of Aden and the wider Western Indian Ocean are coordinated.
In the Field: Visit to Northwood
NATO, Northwood, Image courtesy of NATO
Yesterday, I visited the Northwood Headquarters of NATO and EU NAVFOR near London to discuss the contribution of the “big three” multilateral naval operations in the fight against piracy to the Lessons Learned Project for the Contact Group. The Lessons Learned Project is a collaboration between Cardiff University, the EUISS, OBP and IPA tasked to capture the experience of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, to draw lessons from this experience, and ask whether the success of the Contact Group can be replicated to address other problematic situations. Further information is available here.
The meeting was very productive and there a promising prospects that NATO, EU NAVFOR and CMF will feed their experience on military coordination into the Lessons Learned Project. The way that operations are organized in the Gulf of Aden and the broader Western Indian Ocean and navies from around the world collaborate to prevent piracy is one of the most fascinating part of counter-piracy. Through mechanisms such as SHADE, the IRTC, MSCHOA, and the Mercury system international navies not only are successful in stopping piracy, but have found a unique way of military coordination making counter-piracy a truly global effort. Understanding how this cooperation works and how it could be replicated in other situations will be a major component of the Lessons Learned Project.
In the Field: Djibouti Counter Piracy Week
From 10.-15.11. I will be attending the counter piracy week of the international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. At the meeting the future of counter-piracy governance in general terms as well as its institutional structure will be discussed. One of the issue is also the Lessons Learned Project of the group in which I collaborate with EU-ISS, IPI and OBP.
In the Field: Conference on “Good order at sea off Eastern Africa: Beyond piracy”
From 18.9.-.20.9.2013, the 3rd International Conference on Strategic Theory in Dar es Salam, Tanzania will explore which lessons can be learned from Somali piracy and how maritime security governance in the region can be strengthened. The conference attended by academics, defense experts and maritime security practitioners is organized by the Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University and the Royal Danish Defence College.
At the conference I will give a presentation titled “Learning from Piracy. Challenges of Maritime Security Governance”. More information is available here.
In the Field: London International Shipping Week
From September 9th-13th I will attend the London International Shipping Week and participate in events on maritime security, piracy as well as the DSEI 2013. 