EUCAP Somalia organises third Workshop on Maritime Law and Crime in Puntland

[Deeq A.]

On January 21-23, EUCAP Somalia organised a Workshop on Maritime Law and Crime in Garowe, the capital of the Puntland State of Somalia.

The aim of the workshop – the third of this kind organised by the Mission in Puntland – was to further enhance the level of cooperation between judges, prosecutors and police, and to improve their knowledge of maritime security related legislation, both national and international.

The twenty-one Somali participants included seven police officers from the Crime Investigation Department (CID), seven prosecutors (four of whom were women), and seven judges, who – between them – hailed from a number of different regions in Puntland (namely, Bosasso, Buhoodle, Galkaio, Qardho, Dhahar, Hayland, and Garowe).

Lectures were delivered on subjects such as International and Somali Maritime Law, Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling, and cooperation between police and prosecutors. A session of the workshop was also dedicated to looking at the work of the Joint Maritime Information and Coordination Center (JMICC), a body that was established (although it is not yet fully operational) with the support of EUCAP Somalia in Garowe. The potential of the JMICC to monitor and report on maritime pollution and Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing was discussed during the workshop, and the workshop also carried out case studies on investigation/prosecution of maritime crime and principles of fair trial.

Presentations were delivered by a wide range of lecturers from different backgrounds and organisations, including experts from both the EU and UN, and a presentation was also given by the Deputy Dean of Puntland State University.