Memorandum by the Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
Letter from the Rt Hon Caroline Flint
MP, Minister for Europe at the time of writing
I am writing in response to the Committee's
request for further information following my letter of 17 November.
I should also like to bring to the attention of the Committee
three draft Council Decisions to be adopted by the EU under the
framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy which will
be critical to the success of the EU military operation against
acts of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia. The
EU Presidency is asking that these be agreed under Written Procedure
on 19 December. As these decisions are important operationally,
I hope you will understand the need to agree these Decisions during
the recess period, thus overriding scrutiny.
The UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) co-hosted
a conference on piracy with the Kenyan Government on 10-11 December
2008. Lord West attended the Ministerial day of the conference
in Nairobi. In his well received national statement Lord West
stressed the need for a co-ordinated and comprehensive international
response to the increased levels of piracy. The UK has continued
to insist that all military activity is fully co-ordinated to
ensure that the response is effective in dealing with the threat.
However, the vast size of the geographical area means that it
is impossible to effectively monitor the whole region. To reduce
this risk the EU is seeking contributions from Non Member States,
including those in the region, amongst other things to improve
the gathering and sharing of information on pirate activity. The
International Maritime Organisation is considering the establishment
of a regional centre that will help in this regard. Once established
this will need to work closely with other regional and international
bodies.
In the margins of the Nairobi conference Lord
West was able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kenyan
Foreign Minister that will enable the UK to transfer captured
pirates for prosecution in Kenya. With support from British legal
advisers the EU is also seeking similar arrangements with Kenya.
The draft Council Decision on the required exchange of letters,
to action this agreement, is one of the attached documents which
need the Committees approval. Discussion continues on potential
strengthening of UK legislation in this area, but with agreements
in place with regional countries this is now less of an operational
priority.
The UN Security Council adopted on 16 December
a US drafted resolution (UNSCR 1851) on piracy, which the UK co-sponsored.
This calls for the establishment of an International Contact Group
to all aspects of counter piracy as well as calling for the establishment
of a regional information co-ordination centre. The resolution
also authorises land operations against pirates. At all times
the UK has pressed for relevant international human rights legislation
to be upheld and this is reflected in the resolution. We are satisfied
that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 provides an
adequate legal framework for counter piracy military operations
and we are keen to maintain a distinction between piracy and other
criminal or terrorist activity. The ICG will focus on the proposals
made by experts at the Nairobi conference specifically attempting
to address the cause of piracy to ensure that any response is
comprehensive, effective and with a long term impact. The ICG
will need to consider measures to build regional capacity to ensure
that those States agreeing to accept and prosecute pirates are
able to do so to internationally acceptable standards.
The other draft Council Decisions relate to
Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) with Djibouti and Somalia.
These are relatively standard EU drafts, with some necessary amendments
to reflect the maritime nature of the operation. Member States
are being asked to agree these three documents, by written procedure,
on 19 December. It is consistent with the incredibly rapid
progress of this operation that I am forced again to ask the Committees
approval for override action. I can confirm that full scrutiny
process will be carried out on all the relevant EU processes as
soon as we are able to do so.
18 December 2008
| 
