Piracy in Southeast Asia

According to INTERPOL, Southeast Asia is an important maritime trade pole, since it accumulates a third of world maritime trade, however, this economic activity is affected by piracy (2022, par. 1). According to a study carried out in 2010 by the "One Earth Future Foundation", piracy drains the world economy between seven and twelve billion dollars each year, with Southeast Asia being a region greatly affected by this illegal activity (Mccauley, 2014). , par. 6-7). More recent data found that in 2015, thanks to the geography of the area and increasing security in Somalia and the Gulf of Guinea, Southeast Asia recorded a total of 178 attacks (Cook, 2016, par. 5-8).

Source: McCauley, 2014.

For its part, the “International Maritime Bureau”, IMB, affirms that 60% of global maritime piracy attacks between 1993 and 2015 have occurred in Southeast Asia [see annex I], Indonesia being the most affected country ( Spiess, 2019, par 8). The figures show a serious problem that must be addressed as soon as possible by the countries of the region; however, before looking for a solution, it is important to fully understand what modern piracy consists of, its modus operandi and the efforts to combat it.

What do we understand by “piracy”?

The Convention for the Suppression of Illegal Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, SUA, understands piracy as an “umbrella” type term, thus covering a wide number of incidents or actions (Spiess, 2019, par. 9). In its third article, the SUA attributes seven specific activities as crimes attributable to piracy, such as "the seizure of a forest through violence, threat of violence or any other form of intimidation" (United Nations, 1992, p. 264,265). Although specific information on the term "piracy" is offered, there is still a long way to go to have a precise definition of it, which is why it is necessary to review the Regional Cooperation Agreement to Combat Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia, ReCAAP.

In the first article of the previous text, piracy is understood as "any illegal act of violence, detention or depredation committed with the aim of depriving passengers of their ship or ships on the high seas or outside the area of jurisdiction of any country (ReCAAP, 2006, p. 2). The International Maritime Organization, IMO, complements this definition of piracy through its Code of Practice for the investigation of crimes of piracy and armed robbery perpetrated against ships. In said legal text, armed robbery, a complementary action to piracy, is understood as:

"Any unlawful act of violence or detention, or any act of depredation or threat of depredation, other than acts of piracy, committed for a personal purpose and directed against a ship or against persons or property on board it, within of the internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial sea of a State”

Morality, 2015, p. 4.

After all, piracy can be understood as a wide variety of illegal acts that, through the use of violence, seek to stop and/or take away ships or boats from their passengers when they are in the territorial sea, internal waters, archipelagic or on the high seas. All with the ultimate goal of stealing all the goods that were transported by sea.

History of piracy in Southeast Asia

Since 1980, the Southeast Asia area, thanks to different factors such as the high economic growth of the countries belonging to the area, has become the world epicenter of pirate attacks on merchandise ships or vessels focused on fishing (Nautilus Institute, 2007, p.1). Thanks to this economic takeoff enjoyed in the area, a large part of international maritime trade has been concentrated in the Asian continent, also monopolizing greater pirate attacks with it.

For example, the ten ports with the highest traffic are in Asia, six in China, and the other 4 are distributed in Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea, with Singapore being the most punished for piracy of those ten ( Moral, 2015, p.6). In Indonesia, the nation that suffers the most from pirate attacks in Southeast Asia, the problem did not arise suddenly. Since 1990, Indonesian ports have seen an increase in pirate attacks, characterized by attacks on crews with machetes and knives, as a result of the country's economic growth; In 2004 alone, Indonesia accounted for 93 of the 329 pirate attacks worldwide (Nautilus Institute, 2007, p. 1-2).

Ten years later, the situation has not improved for the Asian country. In 2014, Indonesian waters and ports recorded 40% of the total world piracy for that year, being for the third consecutive year the country with the most pirate attacks, maintaining a huge difference compared to the rest (Moral, 2015, p. 7).

Efforts to combat it

One of the current projects to combat piracy in Southeast Asia is the "Mast Project" spearheaded by INTERPOL. The initiative trains government agencies in charge of protecting ports and marine security in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, thus improving their institutional capacity to combat terrorism, piracy and all forms of theft from ships and ports (INTERPOL, 2022, p. 4-5).

In this way, the "Mast Project" can be understood as a technical collaboration that seeks to improve the response of the authorities of those countries belonging to Southeast Asia. Another effort aimed at combating piracy in the region is the aforementioned ReCAAP. This multilateral Asian treaty expresses concern about the growing piracy on the high seas, conceptualizes and seeks to prevent this crime, and establishes an information exchange center to promote cooperation among its 14 member countries (Lara, 2021, p. 18).

Singapore has been one of the Southeast Asian countries that has taken the most forceful actions to reduce piracy. Proof of this is the military cooperation to coordinate patrol forces between the Maritime Information Center of Singapore, ReCAAP and the IMB, which in 2009 managed to reduce attacks in the region to a historical low of 47, however, the piracy has persisted (Mccauley, 2014, par. 26).

Forms of piracy in Southeast Asia

In this region, most of the pirate attacks perpetrated at night are focused on the theft of ship equipment, crew belongings, and to a lesser extent, part of the cargo that the ship holds at that time (Mora, 2015 , p.8). These attacks can be classified into two main groups. The first is comprised of opportunistic pirates, who do not carry out large attacks, while the second is dedicated to highly organized, sophisticated pirate networks, in charge of actions such as total ship robberies (Nautilus Institute, 2007, p. 2).

Both classifications see increased opportunities for profit due to five factors in the region: overfishing, lax maritime regulations, the existence of organized crime syndicates, the presence of radical political interests, and a high incidence of poverty (Nautilus Institute, 2007, p.2). Even with all the policies to eradicate piracy in Southeast Asia, there is still a long way to go. An example to follow that could serve as a watershed for the Asian continent is the case of Somalia.

In that African country, the "Contact Group for Piracy" was established, a discussion forum for the creation of regional legal structures to end impunity for pirates, where 49 states and seven international organizations participate (Moral, 2015, p. 18). Thanks to this effort, piracy in Somalia has seen historical constant reductions, adding to the implementation of more specialized and effective maritime security teams in preventing assaults (Moral, 20155, p. 18).