Mombasa (Kenya), 22 October 2020 – The Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) launched the inception phase of the new Port Security and Safety of Navigation programme, in Kenya and Tanzania.
This programme is coordinated by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and will be implemented jointly by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) over a four-year period. Its beneficiaries comprise nine island and coastal countries across East Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) joined the preliminary team visits to Comoros, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, where a programme concept review was performed alongside national stakeholders. The exercise successfully mapped the participating countries’ concerns and priorities, while providing baselines and targets that will be key to measuring the programme’s impact at more advanced stages of implementation.
The preliminary site visits and coordination meetings were conducted in Mombasa, Kenya, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania, Maputo, Mozambique as well as Mutsamudu, Comoros; where the UNODC team encountered consistent enthusiasm and support from national stakeholders for the upcoming programme implementation phase.
In the coming months, UNODC will be conducting further inception phase activities with the remaining five target countries — Angola, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia and Seychelles.
These preliminary activities will lead to the programme implementation phase, to be officially launched on 18 January 2021 in Mombasa, Kenya. An ongoing schedule of collaborative and capacity building activities in each of the participating countries will follow the launch over the upcoming four years of the programme’s implementation.
Funded by a generous 28 million EUR grant from the European Union (EU), the Port Security and Safety of Navigation programme for Eastern and Southern Africa will benefit nine regional countries over a four-year period.
The programme will work closely with regional organizations such as IOC –programme coordinator–, COMESA, EAC, SADC, the World Customs Organization and others.
Activities will align with ongoing EU-funded projects and programmes (MASE, CRIMSON, CRIMLEA), existing mechanisms (Djibouti Code of Conduct, Indian Ocean Forum on Maritime Crime ) and seek the support of other key actors in the field.
The programme targets three high-level result areas:
• Result 1: Strengthening national authorities’ capacity for enabling safe navigation across East Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean;
• Result 2: Developing port security legislation and an accompanying compliance framework;
• Result 3: Implementing a regional information-sharing mechanism and data exchange system for both cargo and passengers.
UNODC aims to foster closer compliance with international conventions and security standards at ports, while strengthening each country’s capacity to enforce legal and regulatory frameworks.
This will empower the region to fully benefit from global maritime trade, ultimately promoting economic growth and a more prosperous future for each participating country and its neighbours.
