A Counter-Piracy Messaging and Communications Workshop organised this week in London by Oceans Beyond Piracy (One Earth Future Foundation) with the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the US Department of State examined how counter-piracy messaging in Somalia (dissuading Somalis from becoming pirates) and to the international community (encouraging multi-stakeholder support) both work, separately and together.

Up for discussion were multiple messaging, (lack of) co-operation, strategic messaging and a coordinated approach.

Among points made during discussions between industry, naval forces, politicians, counter-piracy workers and researchers were the following:

• To the average Somali, the ten most important issues do not include piracy - this is not an over-riding priority in a hungry failed state.
• 80% of Somalis believe that piracy should be stopped and 70% believe that pirates should be punished.
• The majority of the hundreds of thousands of Somalis living abroad are deeply ashamed and embarrassed by what piracy has done to their country by destroying its international reputation and standing.
• The will to stop piracy must come from Somalia itself - by Somali society making piracy an unacceptable criminal activity.
• We should be conscious that the actions and messages of the international community can undermine ongoing initiatives inside Somalia - for instance, an initiative to convince Somalis that piracy is against Islamic teachings ('haram') and seriously against their society is undermined by repeated reports of catch & release of pirates by naval forces under government orders where pirates are sent home with only a slap on the wrist.
• Forget the argument that Somali pirates welcome their time in a 'comfortable' prison - the Somalis are a nomadic people with strong family ties.
• Increasing chance of death or imprisonment means that 30% of pirates don't come back.
• We should stop talking about piracy and start talking about counter piracy.

Part of the workshop's conclusion was that the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) could be a forum for counter-piracy messaging efforts - a primary point of co-operation and co-ordination. Each of the five CGPCS Working Groups would consider strategic messaging within its area of responsibility - but with an over-arching coordinating mandate rather than trying to micro-manage the detail. Nobody expects all the individual groupings and organisations to sing in unison, but the aim is that they should sing in harmony at a strategic level.

Source : INTERTANKO