IMCA Security Bulletin 03/21

The Gulf of Guinea Declaration on the Suppression of Piracy

Every person deserves to be safe while carrying out their work, and to be able to return to their homes without being victims of violent crime.  Seafarers deserve no less.

In response to growing concerns and increasing attacks in the region, a taskforce of stakeholders from across the shipping industry has drafted the Gulf of Guinea declaration on the Suppression of Piracy.  The declaration has been signed by organisations across the maritime industry including flag state administrations, ship owners, charterers, and shipping associations.  

The piracy problem in the Gulf of Guinea has developed into a curse for seafarers over the past decade.  In 2021, the threat that looms for all seafarers going to the region is being kidnapped at gunpoint for ransom.  While overall numbers of pirate attacks are largely unchanged, the violence, scope, and sophistication of the attacks on shipping has continued to increase and today take place across an area of more than 200 nautical miles from the pirate bases that are principally located within the Niger Delta.

IMCA has become a signatory to the Gulf of Guinea Declaration on the Suppression of Piracy.  Our name now appears on the official Declaration https://www.bimco.org/GoGDeclaration. 

Members may wish to sign the Declaration themselves.  By signing up, the signatories commit themselves to – among other things, tangibly supporting antipiracy law enforcement as mandated by international law, including international treaties, (e.g. the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)), by non-regional naval forces providing a capable incident response capability to complement regional coastal states’ antipiracy law enforcement operations.

Members wishing to sign the Declaration can do so by completing the form here and returning it to gogdeclaration@bimco.org.

Attention is drawn to a short film produced by BIMCO (Seafarers Deserve Support (bimco.org)) which touches on the issue. Members are invited to share this widely within their organisations.

Members interested in the work of the IMCA Security Committee should contact Nick Hough.