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Working Group 2 :

  • WG2 is chaired by Denmark and consists of representatives from nearly 60 States, including from the region and international organizations, including the European Union, various UN agencies, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the International Maritime Organization, INTERPOL, NATO, and the League of Arab States.

    WG 2 provides specific, practical and legally sound guidance to the CGPCS, States and organizations on all legal aspects of counter-piracy. Participants exchange information on on-going judicial activities, including specific court cases, as well as on relevant capacity building activities in the region. Through this exchange of information, WG2 contributes to a common approach to and understanding of legal piracy issues. WG2 has furthermore developed a legal toolbox for States wishing to improve their ability to prosecute pirates, including checklists to prosecution of suspected pirates, overview of impediments to prosecution, mechanisms for prosecution, applicable international law, transfer of convicted pirates, evidence collection, private armed guards and ship-riders, and human rights considerations.

    WG2 has undertaken a thorough analysis and discussion on how to ensure the effective prosecution of suspected pirates. From the outset, while the focus of the discussions has been how to ensure an increasing number of prosecutions in the region, WG2 continues to discuss all options, including those outlined in the various UN reports and UN Security Council resolutions.

    WG 2 also reached agreement on the legal and practical framework for transferring sentenced pirates from States in the region to incarceration in Somalia. These post-trial transfers enable pirates to be prosecuted in one country and then serve their sentences in UN-constructed prisons in Somalia (one in Puntland and one in Somaliland). The first successful transfers have already taken place.


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