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CHAPTER 2
THE CURRENT STATE OF PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY AT SEA IN
SOUTH EAST ASIAN WATERS AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
General
1 Piracy and armed robbery at sea against commercial shipping surged in the early 1980s. By 1983 it had become a particular problem off West Africa. Also there has been an increase in recent years in SE Asia, especially in the Straits of Malacca, Phillips and Singapore and in parts of the South China Sea. It has also become a problem off the northern coasts of South America. Piracy and armed robbery at sea has also been chronic in Philippine territorial waters. There have also been cases of piracy off the Horn of Africa and in the southern Red Sea, although the precise motives of these attacks have been open to doubt and may well have been terrorist motivated. In such cases, terrorist or guerilla groups involved in political confrontations have attacked and hijacked ships for the financial gain of the particular group as opposed to the individuals involved.
2 Due to the frequency of attacks in the coastal waters of Malacca, Singapore and Phillips Straits in what is the busiest waterway in the world, measures have been put in train to curb such acts both by the coastal States involved and by the vessels themselves. This has resulted in a marked reduction in the number of incidents dating from July 1992 (see paragraph 11).
Statistics of attacks
3 Several sources of statistics of piracy and armed robbery at sea have been drawn upon by the Group, the principal ones being shown in annex 5. They include statistics compiled by IMO, IMB's Regional Piracy Centre (RPC), Singapore National Shipping Association, the Indonesian Government and the United States Department of Energy. As all these figures are often drawn from different sources, there are disparities which highlight the difficulties of defining the precise level of attacks in various areas. A possible solution to this problem is addressed later in this chapter.
4
Another area of difficulty is in the definition and delineation of such acts for measurement purposes. For example, four armed fishermen attacking a fishing vessel of another country in disputed waters constitutes an offence of armed robbery at sea under most nations law. However, it can hardly be counted in the same league as an armed attack on a VLCC off Raffles Light. Accordingly, for the purposes of this report the threshold has been put at 100 GRT and above,
Types of attack
5 Throughout this report, the Group has tried to assign the incidents to type groups. After discussion with many of the agencies and authorities concerned, the following patterns emerged:
Low-Level Armed Robbery (LLAR)
Medium-Level Armed Assault and Robbery (MLAAR) (with/without hijack)
Major Criminal Hijack (MCHJ)
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