Throughout the roundtable discussion, participants stressed on the importance of the Red Sea, Gulfs of Aden and Oman as an essential hub for international economy and trade. This region plays an important role in maintaining the flow of oil and gas supplies needed to achieve and maintain global energy security, in addition to being a hub for global trade and logistics. With the multiple conflicts affecting the region (the Iran/Israel proxy conflict/Yemen conflict/etc.), maritime transnational crime is increasing and threatening peace, justice, stability and development. Criminal transformation has been driven by the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts brought about by globalization. With the opening of new markets, supply chains, technologies, and weak regulations, criminals have had new opportunities to make illegal profit. This has been exacerbated by weak regulations and the fact that only 2% of global trade is properly controlled. Further, while under-regulation is certainly a problem, overregulation is also to blame. Strict bureaucracies, an increase in the number of borders and high taxes on goods, are creating incentives for illicit trade. This is resulting in areas of violent conflict that are becoming a focal point for illicit markets, including arms smuggling, oil extraction, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, opium production, gold and mineral mining or charcoal trafficking. As criminal and conflict actors merge and engage with armed non-state actors (especially in fragile states) that often control illicit markets, any proceeds made from illicit trade enrich these groups and perpetuate violence. This is resulting in a volatile mix of weapons prevalence, lawlessness and young combatants who are desensitized to violence. In such conflicts, institutions are often weak and cannot regulate the market, and fragile states are flooded with weapons that vastly increases the power of armed groups over the government.

Transnational maritime crime requires a comprehensive and integrated response from international bodies and state structures. As such, participants agreed on the importance of establishing national and regional cooperation in dealing with maritime security challenges. Given the global nature of shipping, participants stressed that not one country can ensure maritime security on its own. A participant highlighted the code of conduct (otherwise known as the Djibouti Code of Conduct (2009)) as an example of a multi-national conduct that concerns the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. The Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) has aided in containing the threat of piracy with the support of international partners. In addition, consortiums such as the International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) was established to deter state-sponsored malign activity, reassure commercial shipping and ensure the free-flow of trade. The IMSC includes 9 member states (Albania, Bahrain, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States of America).

 However, the prevention of resurgence also depends on addressing other threats to maritime security. As such, increasing local action against maritime threats becomes critical here. Strong coordination mechanisms between various agencies at the national level is imperative for implementing enforcement measures to combat piracy and other organized crime in the maritime domain. Further, participants agreed that promoting national inter-agency cooperation and developing national capabilities will set the foundation for stronger regional cooperation and effective implementation of the amended DCoC. As transnational organized crime is now considered part of the maritime domain, facilitating transnational communication, coordination and cooperation creates a substantial basis for technical cooperation in a way that is trusted, effective and popular. The Jeddah Amendment expanded the scope of the DCoC to encompass a functioning regional information sharing network (ISN), capacity building to develop participating states’ capabilities to conduct maritime law enforcement activities, regional training with other states in the region and increase capacity for maritime governance.  On the same note, the development of the ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)” vision by the Japanese government seeks to maintain and enhance the international order based on the rule of law. Countries who share the vision of the FOIP seek to cooperate in order to strategically promote efforts to achieve public diplomacy on maritime order and sharing insights on the international law of the sea; rule-making to expand a free and fair economic order; securing connectivity across the pacific and the Indian ocean; enhancing governance and ensuring maritime security and safety.  

However, as one participant pointed out, illegal maritime trade cannot only be fought through security and military means. In the case of human trafficking, illegal migration and smuggling, investing in economic growth and capitalizing on human (social) development will help create jobs in their own countries and ensure better security. One participant stressed the need for funding schemes and effective training to reintegrate returned irregular migrants in sustainable business activity in their country of origin. The participant recommended that Western and regional partners develop regular migration channels, build trust among each other and work on nearshoring in order to improve regional supply chains that will utilize skilled workers from all involved continents.

At the conclusion of the meeting, ACSIS announced the establishment of an advisory group for a safe maritime zone in the red sea, gulfs of Aden and Oman. The launch of the advisory group stems from the necessity of establishing a multi-disciplinary forum for the purpose of unifying efforts as well as closely coordinating with existing initiatives. The advisory   group aims to study the requirements needed to establish a maritime security forum in the region and seeks to achieve its objections by supporting existing mandates, promoting international cooperation and supporting the coordination and inclusion of non-traditional stakeholders (e.g. academic community, scientific institutes and research centers). Moreover, the group will seek to promote non-proliferation of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ (WMD) and ‘Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear’ (CBRN) capabilities and finally providing capacity building training programs for law enforcement.

Cover Image by: The European Maritime Awareness-Strait of Hormuz (EMASoH)