Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia


The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, commonly abbreviated as CGPCS, is an international governance mechanism established in New York on January 14, 2009 to facilitate the discussion and coordination of actions among states and organizations to suppress Somali piracy.
The CGPCS was established in response to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1851, later recalled and replaced with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1918. To date, more than 60 countries and international organizations have become part of this forum, all of which are working towards the prevention of piracy off the Somali coast.

Working Procedures

The CGPCS meets in two formats a bi-annual plenary and working groups as well as several ad-hoc sub-groups. The CGPCS does not have a standing secretariat. Chairpersonship of the plenary and the working groups is rotating. Outcome of the Plenary are so-called communiques.

Working Groups

Until a reform process was initiated in 2014 the CGPCS had five working groups:
Following the 2014 Reform process the Contact Group has three working groups. The first working group focuses on capacity building coordination and continues the work of the former WG1 and its sub-group in this area. The second working group focuses on operations at sea and continues elements of the work of the former WG1 and WG3. The third working Group is the former WG5 and continues the work in the area of tracing the financial networks of piracy and working towards the prosecution of piracy king pins. The work of WG2 and WG4 was discontinued. WG2 was replaced by a virtual Piracy Legal Forum .

Lessons Learned

In 2014 the CGPCS initiated a lessons learned project. The starting point for the project was that the CGPCS represents a unique as well as very successful type of governance mechanism and that this experience requires to be recorded. A Lessons Learned Consortium was formed comprising the NGO Oceans Beyond Piracy , the European Union Institute of Security Studies, and the Counter-Piracy Governance Project at Cardiff University . The results of the project are published on a dedicated website , which also serves as the official website and repository of the CGPCS.

Accomplishments

The US Department of State recently quoted the accomplishments of the Group as :