Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia Sixteenth Plenary Session, United Nations Head Quarters, 14 May 2014 - Communiqué
Summary - The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) held its Sixteenth Plenary Session at the UN Headquarters in New York on 14 May 2014 under the Chairmanship of the European Union.
The Plenary was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Clément Gorissen and Mr. Simon Davies who, working for UNODC, were killed in a heinous attack in Galkayo on 7 April 2014. Their deaths are a tragedy not only for their families, their friends, their colleagues and the United Nations family, but also for the people of Somalia who so badly need the kind of assistance that they were providing.
The CGPCS urges the immediate release of the remaining innocent seafarers currently being held captive in Somalia.
The CGPCS officially endorsed a series of measures to streamline and refine the CGPCS structures and working procedures with a view to making the CGPCS more demand-driven, delivery-focused, cost-effective and to increase regional participation and representation through a system of co-chairing arrangements for its Working Groups.
WG1 has been renamed the Working Group on Capacity Building. It will concentrate on capacity building and will be co-chaired by the UK and the Indian Ocean Commission. WG2 has been transformed into the ‘Legal Forum of the CGPCS’, preserving the legal network as a virtual legal forum of legal experts. It will be co-chaired by Mauritius and Portugal. WG3 has been renamed ‘Maritime Counter-Piracy and Mitigation Operations’. It will bring, amongst others, industry, navies and seafarers organisations together. This WG will be co-chaired by Japan, Seychelles and the United Arab Emirates. WG5 has been renamed ‘Disrupting Pirate Networks Ashore’ and will continue to be chaired by Italy and focus on financial flows tracking and arresting piracy kingpins. Law enforcement expertise will be concentrated in a dedicated, autonomous Task Force.
The CGPCS welcomes the efforts made by the international counter piracy forces
off the Horn of Africa and calls upon all stakeholders, civilian and military, public and private, to remain jointly engaged in the fight against Somali piracy. Progress is real but potentially reversible. The CGPCS remains committed to continuing its work to eliminate piracy off the coast of Somalia, including by enabling Somalia to build an effective and sustainable response to piracy.
The CGPCS was informed by the Federal Government of Somalia that the Federal Government is developing a Maritime Security Strategy, consistent with and to aid the implementation of the broader Maritime Resource and Security Strategy. The CGPCS commends the Federal Government of Somalia for its efforts to assume greater responsibility for eradicating piracy and other maritime crimes and fostering cooperation to bring pirate kingpins to justice, and calls upon it to continue and amplify this effort. Somalia, with the support of regional countries and the international community, now need to consolidate the gains made by the international community and make substantive changes ashore in Somalia through focussed and prioritised efforts over the next two years.
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