Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.
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group created a multi-donor trust fund to help fund counter-piracy prosecution support and capacity building. Working Group 3, co-chaired by the U.S. Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard, focuses on improving the self-awareness and self-defense capa- bilities of the commercial shipping industry. WG3 works closely with the International Maritime Orga- nization (IMO) to adopt and implement technical guidance on self-protection measures, and interfaces with industry on complex and controversial issues, such as armed security on commercial ships. WG3 meetings alternate between Washington, D.C., and IMO headquarters, in London, with much of the work accomplished via email and intercessional meetings RQ VSHFLÀF DVSHFWV RI LQGXVWU\ FRQFHUQ Egypt chairs Working Group 4, which deals with public diplomacy and strategic communications. An important but perhaps less obvious line of effort, public information campaigns have the potential to build resistance among Somali communities to the piracy criminal enterprise by raising awareness of its destructive effect on Somali society, and the ways WKDW WKH LQÁX[ RI SLUDWH UDQVRP PRQH\ LV VXEYHUWLQJ developing a political culture and economy. The newest addition to the contact group is Working Group 5. Chaired by Italy, this group promotes efforts to disrupt the pirate enterprise ashore, including the LOOLFLW ÀQDQFLDO QHWZRUNV WKDW HQDEOH DQG LQFHQWLYL]H piracy. WG5 was established at the ninth plenary session, in July 2011, in widespread recognition that concerted international attention is required to attack the heart of the piracy problem—the increasingly organized and transnational criminal networks that ÀQDQFH RSHUDWH DQG EHQHÀW IURP PDULWLPH SLUDF\ These groups thrive by funding piracy operations and laundering ransom money. With strong support from other countries, and working in close collaboration with INTERPOL, Italy will lead an effort to central- L]H LQIRUPDWLRQ RQ SLUDWH ÀQDQFLHUV RUJDQL]HUV DQG DIÀOLDWHV DQG VHHN WR KDYH WKHVH FULPLQDOV DUUHVWHG on criminal charges related to piracy, including extor- tion, conspiracy, and racketeering. Proceedings Originally convened quarterly, the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia now meets annually in March, July, and November. By consensus, and for reasons of both convenience and economy, plenary meetings continue to be held at the U.N. headquarters www.uscg.mil/proceedings The 10th Plenary Meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia meets at U.N. headquarters in Novem- ber 2011. U.S. Coast Guard photos by CDR Lee Boone. From left: Ms. Linda Willson, UK Department of Transport; Mr. Owen Doherty, U.S. Maritime Administration, co-chair of Working Group 3; Mr. Bob Gauvin, U.S. Coast Guard, co-chair of Working Group 3; and Mr. Henk Swarttouw, chairman of the 10th plenary meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, address plenary participants. in New York. Working group meetings are scheduled to meet in locations as their national chairs designate, but as a matter of practice, convene formally at least once prior to the subsequent plenary meeting. The report of each plenary meeting includes working group chair reports and discussion on topics raised during the meeting. Delegations to plenary meetings may make formal interventions on any topic relating to piracy and generally provide the written text of such interventions to the plenary body for the record. By design, the contact group does not have a formal charter or other written terms of reference beyond the contents of the plenary communiqués, and no action or decision taken in or by the contact group or any of its participants is binding in any way upon gov- ernments or organizations participating in its pro- ceedings. Financial Support In 2010, contact group members recognized a need IRU D GHGLFDWHG ÀQDQFLDO VRXUFH WR VXSSRUW FRXQWHU piracy initiatives. So they established the Trust Fund Spring 2012 Proceedings 17