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French Republic
Committee: UNSC - Piracy on the High Seas

Maritime piracy has been on the decline for the past couple of years, but the issue hasn’t been solved yet.
The problem might not sound prominent in terms of its regularity but there is an average of $25 billion (about $77
per person in the US) every single year including theft, ransoms, and increased insurance costs. There have been
approximately 1800 piracy attacks from 2010 to 2020. This is an incredible number considering the scale of each of
these attacks with each shipment/boat containing about $500,000 to $1 million in goods. Considering the fact that
many vessels do not report them since it may lead to a poor-safety record. This is the story of maybe hundreds of
pirate attacks which expand the problem into a major crisis. An alarming threat to humans in-land is also present
with around 65% of piracy incidents occurring when ships are anchored. Although France never experienced first-
hand encounters with piracy, France has recognized its role in supporting the developing countries around them to
lead a safe global community while taking leadership as one of the permanent members of the Security Council.
The French Republic has previously dealt with piracy issues by leading missions like EUCAP Somalia, an EU
alliance operation assisting the maritime security and wider police capacity of Somalia France independently has
also supported the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Guinea from such attacks starting in 2007 by increasing the
security at these hotspots of piracy. There have also been immensely expensive projects including the spendings of
$325 million to train 12,000 African soldiers for peacekeeping of the entire continent for major issues like piracy,
terrorism, and drug-trafficking. Furthermore, the country of France has been a major contributor to the Atlante
anti-piracy program of the EU. In all of these efforts, the results have followed. Notably, capturing 60 pirates in the
Horn of Africa and completely ending piracy in the Indian ocean from 2013. With these incredible outcomes,
France is excited to try many other things and is open to all countries for proposals to help completely end this
major issue.
For one, France and other nations could form a bigger alliance than the EU and with more active members
showing care for this problem. This alliance could include, respectively, the US, UK, India, Japan, Canada, South
Korea, Germany, Switzerland and finally France. The alliance mentioned could be an incredible medium for
communication over international problems that the developing countries are facing to solve them properly and
end them for once.
 Works Cited

AP. “France Is Investing $1 Million to Fight a New African Pirate-Attack Hotspot.” Business Insider, 11 Nov. 2011,

www.businessinsider.com/france-piracy-guinea-2011-11. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.

Beardsley, Eleanor. “France Takes an Aggressive Stance against Pirates.” NPR.org, 14 Apr. 2009,

www.npr.org/2009/04/14/103070155/france-takes-an-aggressive-stance-against-pirates.

étrangères, Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires. “Piracy on the High Seas.” France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe

and Foreign Affairs, www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/security-disarmament-and-non-

proliferation/fight-against-organized-criminality/piracy-on-the-high-seas/#:~:text=France%20is%20one

%20of%20the. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.

“France Provides Support to Combat Piracy in West Africa.” https://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?

articleid=1287351912. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.