The Role of Information Sharing in Counter-piracy in the Horn of Africa region: A Model for Transnational Criminal Enforcement Operations

Abstract

Rates of piracy out of Somalia at their lowest in 6 years through a multi-pronged approach of nation building in Somalia, capacity building in other States in the region (such as Kenya, the Seychelles and Mauritius), target hardening, regional criminal prosecutions, and naval patrolling throughout the region. This process has been undertake by a veritable alphabet soup of groups and organisations, in addition to the various States which have taken part. While the short term success of these operations is unquestionable, the time it took for these measures to begin having an impact - and the reports and literature detailing these efforts - suggest that the interaction between parties involved in this process was dysfunctional for some time. This paper seeks to examine the way in which functional and effective information sharing regimes have contributed to the effectiveness of counter piracy measures.

This contribution will focus upon the role of information sharing in combatting the quasi-transnational criminal offence of piracy. This issue will be examined through several discrete legal and operational lenses, and buttressed by the empirical data gathered by a range of analysts of Somali piracy (including the authors). The first lens will be reactive direct enforcement by naval patrols and regional prosecutors, utilising a case study approach. This analysis will indicate that without effective information sharing mechanisms in place, it would be nigh impossible to engage in this form of enforcement - an activity that is seen as crucial to redressing perceptions of pirate impunity in Somalia. The second lens employed will be the role of effective information sharing in pre-emptive direct enforcement planning and coordination. This analysis will focus on the utility of bespoke, informal, flexible mechanisms - such as then Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, and the SHADE coordination mechanism - as opposed to more inflexible formalised processes. This part of the analysis will also ask why the efficiency and levels of State ‘buy-in’ in respect of piracy off the coast of Somalia have been so different to a similarly informal, bespoke process (the PSI).

The third lens to be considered is the role that information sharing has played in combatting piracy as an organised criminal enterprise rather than as isolated maritime offences. This will parse the difficulties that are faced by investigators in tracing ransom money back to the organised crime group leaders in such a way that will allow for prosecutions, as well as tracing various suppliers who make piracy attacks possible (such as arms traffickers). One conclusion that will emerge from this consideration is that the sharing of such piracy related financial and transactional information is at a far less mature stage than the sharing of operational information in relation to pirate incidents themselves. The analysis will pose some possible explanations for this. The final lens will address the way in which information sharing has led to effective nation building and capacity building within Somalia and the Horn of Africa region, and the way in which this has contributed to piracy suppression. It is perhaps a little recognised ‘spin-off’ of transnational arrangements related to piracy prosecutions - such as prison transfer laws and agreements - that information sharing for law enforcement and sentence recognition purposes can indeed pave the road for building broader piracy information sharing networks and capacities.