The latest report from the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea has once again slammed the private maritime security industry.
Despite recognition that the increasing use of private maritime security companies (PMSCs) has substantially lowered the number of vessels successfully hijacked, the report lashes out against an industry it terms, “unmonitored and largely unregulated”.
According to the leaked report, PMSCs working off the coast of Somalia may represent a new potential channel for the flow of arms and ammunition into Somalia and the region.
The “highly profitable” business has expanded and the UN monitors are concerned that the absence of control and inspection of these armed activities, “inevitably creates opportunities for illegality and abuse, and increases the risk that the maritime security industry will be exploited by unscrupulous and criminal actors, eventually coming to represent a threat to regional peace and security, rather than part of the solution.”
It is the view of the report that the UN Security Council should consider options for the establishment of an international regulatory authority that regulates, monitors and inspects the activities of private maritime security companies (PMSCs) operating floating armouries and providing armed protection to vessels in international waters.
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