Danish Government Launches New Strategy for Measures Against Piracy

The Danish government launches a new Danish strategy for measures against piracy

The strategy follows up on the existing multi-facetted Danish efforts made and creates a coherent, multi-annual framework for the Danish measures against piracy. The strategy will run until 2014.

The overall purpose of the Danish efforts is to contribute to making the waters off the Horn of Africa and in the Indian Ocean safe and navigable for Danish and international shipping. The strategy covers bilateral as well as multilateral political, military, legal and capacity-building measures. The strategy is the result of a co-operation between the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Defence, the Minister for Development Cooperation, the Minister of Justice and the Minister for Economic and Business Affairs.

On the occasion of the publication, Foreign Minister Lene Espersen says, “I am extremely pleased to present the government’s new strategy for measures against piracy today. Piracy is an increasing problem that affects, not least, Danish shipping. Today, we launch a broad-spectred policy placing our efforts in an international context and containing both political measures, the dispatch of military forces, legal measures and capacity-building in the region. It is an ambitious strategy aimed at a complex problem. We have been among those in lead of the international efforts made right from the start, and we must remain so.”

Minister of Defence Gitte Lillelund Bech says, “I would like to stress the great efforts made by the military forces in combating piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa. The contribution made by the Danish military forces is an important building block in the measures against piracy and may, in the future, also lead to the dispatch of planes for periods of time. It is important to underline that the measures made in the waters off the African east coast cannot stand alone. There are also quire great perspectives in the Danish side being able to support countries in the region building their own coast guard capacity. The combating of piracy demands that we use several building blocks so that they can in combination help create sustainable and long-term solutions.”

Minister for Development Cooperation Søren Pind says, “With the government’s new strategy, the development aid is a central contribution to the combating of the increasing piracy problem, which has far reaching consequences for both the African countries and international shipping as a whole. A lasting solution to the piracy issue can be achieved only through stabilisation of Somalia. Therefore, a major Danish aid programme for Somalia is being developed. But I am pleased that we can, already now, promise to support the establishment of prisons in Somalia for pirates who have been convicted and the development of coast guards in the region as well as the countering of money laundering. Those are crucial measures that may help ensure that the countries in the region can handle the problems by themselves.”

On the occasion of the launching of the government’s piracy strategy, Minister of Justice Lars Barfoed says, “I am very pleased that the government launches an ambitious strategy today for the Danish measures against piracy. It is decisive to take long-term and preventive measures. At the same time, it is very important to me that we are able to provide the Danish shipowners with a possibility of taking care of their seafarers and ships’ safety here and now. Therefore, I decided already in March this year to apply a more open approach to the shipping companies’ request to be able to make use of armed civilian guards on Danish ships passing through the risk area. Several Danish shipping companies have already chosen to use this possibility for the benefit of safety.”

Minister for Economic and Business Affairs Brian Mikkelsen says, “As the minister of shipping, I am very satisfied with the overall efforts that the government’s piracy strategy is an expression of. It is decisive for the seafarers’ safety and international trade that piracy is combated and that this is done at as many frontlines as possible. Also in extension of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization, which together with governments and the shipping industry is already in the process of implementing the elements of the strategy for the protection of ships against piracy.”

Background

The considerable piracy activities off the coast of Somalia and far into the Indian Ocean have great personal costs for the persons held hostage and their relatives. Also the persons carrying out their work on board the ships passing through the area are affected. In addition, piracy has had a considerable negative impact on global commercial shipping and trade, not least for the African countries that experience decreasing trade and increasing commodity prices. For a maritime nation as Denmark, accounting for about ten per cent of global transport on the oceans measured in value, piracy is a noticeable problem that must be solved through international cooperation. For several years, Denmark has been engaged in combating the piracy problem through, inter alia, the dispatching of naval forces to NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield and the Danish chairmanship of the international legal working group on piracy. The new strategy aims to extend this involvement.

The strategy focuses, inter alia, on Denmark’s contribution to:

furthering international coordination and focus on the combating of piracy as well as strengthening regional and bilateral cooperation on the combating of piracy,

combating piracy through increased Danish naval and air force activities until 2014, consisting of periodic dispatch of naval forces as well as the dispatch of a maritime surveillance plane for shorter periods of time in consideration of the armed forces’ other tasks,

continuing the Danish international lead as regards the finding of practical solutions to the legal challenges posed by the combating of piracy,

concluding bilateral transfer agreements on the prosecution of pirates with the countries in the region,

striving to ensure that the application process in relation to civilian armed guards is arranged in as flexible a manner as possible as well as striving to ensure that guidelines are drawn up internationally on the use of civilian armed guards,

supporting the follow-up on ships’ compliance with the Best Management Practices (BMP),

contributing to capacity-building so that the countries in the region can themselves meet the challenges in the longer term, including support for the establishment of coast guard functions in the region as well as prison capacity in Somaliland and Puntland,

increasing the international efforts made to get at the men behind the pirates, for example through initiatives against money laundering.

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Source: DMA, June 7, 2011.