Un Institute News

Since 2010, there has been a steadily increasing trend of piracy attacks in Southeast Asia, according to a report released by UNITAR (UN Institute for Training and Research), with 150 separate incidents just from last year alone. After significant strides in reducing the number of hijackings near war-torn Somalia over the past few years, the United Nations declared last month that the epicenter of piracy activity is now in waters off Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The MT Oriental Glory, a Malaysian tanker carrying oil gas cargo, was hijacked two weeks ago in the South China Sea, an apparent and alarming verification that this report is already coming to fruition.

UNOSAT, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Program, released a 3D map of piracy incidents in the Gulf of Aden for 2008. This 3D perspective map illustrates the relative spatial density of reported pirate incidents in the Gulf of Aden for 2008, current as of 21 November. Incidents that have occurred within 5km of the Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) following implementation on 26 August 2008 are identified. A spatial analysis of the pattern changes in attacks has also been conducted.