Seychelles being in a strategic location within the Indian Ocean and being part of several trading routes, it is crucial that the country provides greater safety and security for the region’s commercial vessels, their crew members and the maritime environment they transit through.

Within that perspective, a five-week training programme was recently hosted for port security, port state control, along with port maritime law enforcement personnel to strengthen the national authorities’ capacity for enabling safe navigation and also to developing port security legislation and an accompanying compliance framework.

The training – Port Security and Safety of Navigation – is part of a programme coordinated by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and is being implemented jointly by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) over a four-year period, while its beneficiaries comprise nine island and coastal countries across East Africa, Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean.

In the local context, the training was being coordinated by the Regional Fusion and Law Enforcement Centre for Safety and Security at Sea (REFLECS3) and it gathered personnel from the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (SMSA), the Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA), the Seychelles Police Force, the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG), the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF), the Immigration department and Hunt Deltel.

After enduring 110 hours of training, the 25 local personnel yesterday received their certificates during a small ceremony held at the Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA) auditorium at the SCG base at Perseverance.

The training was being facilitated by two port law enforcement experts from the UNODC, namely German Malte Grohmann and South African Scott Naidoo.

It covered areas such as ensuring that crimes at ports get prosecuted, enhancement of communications between different port agencies with the goal of working together to fight crime in ports, assistance with the sharing of ideas and experiences on countering crime at ports, improvement of port protection against waterborne terrorist attacks, and also assisting port officials to organise, prepare and respond to emergencies.

Commandant of the SCG Lieutenant-Colonel Jean Attala, chairman of the Defence and Security Committee of the National Assembly Clifford Andre, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ron Bonnelame and Commandant of the SDA Lieutenant-Colonel François Antat were among those present to witness the milestone.

Addressing those present, Mr Naidoo noted that the heartbeat of the programme is to enhance the capacity of frontline police and law enforcement officers to merge with the private sector to collectively address some of the challenges that we have within the maritime space.

He described the combined effort between law enforcement agencies and the private sector and the training and development as a critical tool to enhance the capacity in addressing ports security challenges.

Funded by a generous 28 million EUR grant from the European Union (EU), the Port Security and Safety of Navigation programme for Eastern and Southern Africa will benefit nine regional countries over a four-year period.

It will work closely with regional organisations such as IOC – programme coordinator, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), EAC, SADC, the World Customs Organisation and others.

The overall objective of the project is to promote and strengthen port security and maritime safety management systems developed in ports within the East African, Southern African and Indian Ocean Region.

The programme will therefore integrate and collaborate closely with the Indian Ocean Commission as the regional organisation.

It covers legislation review and capacity building of judicial stakeholders to ensure legal finish of port related crimes, to develop the enforcement and prosecution component for a multi-agency approach to maritime and port security to ensure coordination, cooperation and response to maritime and port security incidents with a view to establishing a coordinated and standardised regional approach.

It also develops and supports port security water-based assessment covering all aspects of maritime security threats, develops and delivers training to enhance the capacity of port security management staff in risk analysis, SOPs, incident management, and assessment of emergency/evacuation plans, support to the establishment of new Port Control Units.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna and was renamed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2002.

The agency’s focus is the trafficking in and abuse of illicit drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Source: Seychelles Nation