The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has not renewed anti-piracy resolution off Somalia for the fight against piracy and armed robbery.
In December, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to allow international naval forces to continue using all necessary means to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, only for the next three months.
In late February, the Federal Government of Somalia sent a letter to the United Nations expressing its opposition to further extent the resolution that allows foreign navies to enter Somali territorial waters to repress piracy. According to Somalia, the resolution has achieved its objectives and Somalia is building up its own maritime security capabilities.
Now that the resolution has expired, international navies can still fight pirates in the region, but not in Somalian territorial waters.
The European Union’s Operation Atalanta, which began operations in 2008, will continue to operate in the region. In a statement on 9 March, the European Union Naval Force (EU Navfor) said Atalanta will continue to fulfil its missions in its broader area of responsibility, providing maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean.
Operation Atalanta remains committed to the respect the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and will continue countering piracy in the high seas, protecting the World Food Programme (WFP) and other vulnerable vessels.
Atalanta will continue countering drugs trafficking, contributing to the implementation of the weapons’ embargo on Somalia and monitoring other illicit activities at sea, such as the illegal export of charcoal and monitoring illegal, unreported and unregistered (IUU) fishing.
Over the past 13 years, Atalanta has transferred 171 suspected pirates to regional authorities in view of their prosecution, and escorted or monitored more than 2.3 million tons of humanitarian aid delivered by WFP vessels.
All these achievements have been made possible thanks to the continuous commitment of the troop contributing nations. Today, 19 nations make a decisive contribution to the operation (16 EU member states together with Colombia, Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia)
However, experts have warned that Somali piracy could easily resurge if international navies stopped their patrols in the region.
According to the Western Indian Ocean Report of Stable Seas, piracy remains suppressed off the coast of Somalia largely due to security measures at sea and capacity building efforts on land, but the underlying drivers, including socio-economic insecurity and weak law enforcement capacity, remain.
If ship protection measures end, this could result in a resurgence of pirate activity off the Somali coast.