Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia, abbreviated as ReCAAP or RECAAP, is a multilateral agreement between 16 countries in Asia, concluded in November 2004 and includes the RECAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC), an initiative for facilitating the dissemination of piracy-related information.[1]
To date, twenty countries have signed up for ReCAAP.[2]
About the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), and the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC)
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) is the first regional government-to-government agreement to promote and enhance cooperation against piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia. It was finalised on 11 November 2004 and entered into force on 4 September 2006. To date, 20 States have become Contracting Parties to ReCAAP.
The 20 Contracting Parties to ReCAAP are Australia, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the Kingdom of Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ReCAAP ISC) was established under the Agreement, and was officially launched in Singapore on 29 November 2006. It was formally recognised as an international organisation on 30 January 2007.
The roles of the ReCAAP ISC are to:
- serve as a platform for information exchange with the ReCAAP Focal Points; facilitate communications and information exchange among participating governments to improve incident response by member countries; analyse and prove accurate statistics of the piracy and armed robbery incidents to foster better understanding of the situation in Asia;
- facilitate capacity building efforts that help improve the capability of member countries in combating piracy and armed robbery in the region; and
- cooperate with organisations and like-minded parties on joint exercises, information sharing, capacity building programme, or other forms of cooperation, as appropriate, and agree upon among the Contracting Parties.
Through its information network, the ReCAAP Focal Points are linked to each other as well as the ReCAAP ISC on a 24/7 basis, and are able to facilitate appropriate responses to incident. The agency receiving the incident report will manage the incident in accordance to its national policies and response procedures, and provide assistance to the victim ship where possible. The agency will in turn, inform their ReCAAP Focal Point which will submit an incident report to the ReCAAP ISC and its neighbouring Focal Points.
ReCAAP ISC also work with partner organisations to enhance its network with the maritime community and other International Organisations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the INTERPOL.
External links
- Website of the organisation.
- ReCAAP Agreement.
References
- ↑ Unattributed (n.d.). "Piracy and armed robbery against ships". International Maritime Organization. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
- ↑ Ted Kemp (23 Sep 2014). "Singapore Strait piracy: US enters fight against pirates in Asia". CNBC. Retrieved 9 October 2014.