Anti-piracy group DCOC to send officer to India's maritime information hub, IFC-IOR

In a significant move to enhance international collaboration to combat maritime threats, the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCOC)/Jeddah Amendment is poised to deploy an International Liaison Officer (ILO) to India's Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR).

Captain Rohit Bajpai, director of the Gurugram-based Naval institution, speaking to WIONs diplomatic correspondent, Sidhant Sibal, said, "They are looking to sending one of their ILOs to us; we have invited."

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Captain Bajpai emphasised the prospect of collaborative learning, with the DCOC ILO gaining valuable insights from IFC-IOR.

"If the ILO of the DCOC comes, he may learn with us, sit with us, understand and thereafter go back and impart his learnings to his country. We are in very much touch with DCOC," he explained.

Established in January 2009, the DCOC primarily focuses on countering piracy and armed robbery in the Western Indian Ocean Region, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea. With the 2017 Jeddah Amendment, the DCOC expanded its purview to combat illegal maritime activities such as illegal fishing, human trafficking, and smuggling.

The group consists of 18 member countries, predominantly from Arab and Eastern African regions, with India becoming an observer member in August 2020.

Highlighting the ongoing collaboration, Captain Bajpai stated, "Presently, we have 12 ILOs; soon, one more ILO is going to join us from Bangladesh, maybe early in January. We have a vision of having 40 ILOs in this centre and progressing towards that."

Established in December 2018, this year the institution marks its fifth anniversary. To date, the centre has hosted ILOs from 12 nations viz. Australia, France, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The navy institution had played a key role in providing information during the recent hijacked vessel MV Ruen case.

Full interview:

Sidhant Sibal: If you can talk about what this body does?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: The vision of the government of India was to set up a centre to look for maritime security and safety in the IOR through a collaborative effort. We realised that there's no one agency or organisation which has enough resources or manpower to monitor such a vast area. It was premised on collaboration.That is how we set out, to understand the Indian Ocean region, fuse that information from various sources and after putting out to the maritime community for the safety and security in the region.

Sidhant Sibal: There are officers from various countries, how many countries are involved and is there any plan to invite more countries?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: Absolutely, what we say is we have international liaison officers who are the main strength, the pillar. Presently we have 12 ILOs, both from the regional countries and beyond the region. They bring with them unique perspectives from their individual area. And when all come together, sit at the table, when we fuse that information, then we get a better understanding of the maritime domain and entire region.Presently we have 12 ILOs, soon one more ILO is going to join us from Bangladesh, maybe early in January. We have a vision of having 40 ILOs in this centre and progressing towards that.

Sidhant Sibal: Challenges in the Indian Ocean? How are we tackling these issues with this organisation?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: Challenges are plenty in the IOR because of the importance of the Indian Ocean region. With importance comes challenges -- host of challenges. The priority of challenges may be different for different countries.We are primarily monitoring 5 clusters of challenges: piracy, armed robbery, contraband smuggling, illegal fishing and maritime incidents.There are many challenges, which we club under categories, thereafter our ILOs monitor that.

Now the main challenge for small island nations is drug trafficking, which is affecting the youth. In countries like Mauritius and Seychelles, it is high on priority. Illegal fishing is a big mess which is happening in our region.Very recently situation in the western side of the region, that is catching our eye, we analyse that information.Threats are similar for everybody, priorities keep on changing, and when something happens, we focus on that.

Sidhant Sibal: How is this organisation planning to expand, it has a major weight in the region, if you can talk about the future of this organisation?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: We believe in trust, it's good to know that the environment is also understanding what we are doing here. We like to admit and take a lot of pride, that we have achieved a lot in these five years. In the last 2-3 years, the number of partnerships we are doing, the engagement we had with international partners is increasing phenomenally. More and more regions are looking at us, to assist, help them, to collaborate. Our future of course, whatever we have set to achieve, we have achieved, however, that is not the end.The organisation has to grow.We have a full roadmap that we want to achieve in the next 5 years and thereafter.

Sidhant Sibal: Are you planning to engage with the African Countries as well?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: Absolutely, the Djibouti Code of Conduct /Jeddah Amendment, the eastern African countries that is the 21 countries. We very recently interacted with them.We are in constant dialogue; they are in the process of developing their standard operating procedure for their own information-sharing network. They called us, we were part of their institutionalisation of the SOPs, so that has been done. Now they are looking to sending one of their ILOs to us, which we have invited.If ILO of the DCOC comes, he may learn with us, sit with us, understand and thereafter go back and impart his learnings to his country.We are in very much touch with DCOC. We are helping them build an information centre.

Sidhant Sibal: There's no African ILO so far but there is a plan to get an African ILO very soon?

Captain Rohit Bajpai: Absolutely, we have ILOs from the island nations i.e. Seychelles and Mauritius but we have invited them. Most probably one of the East African countries will send ILO here soon.