BRAZIL’S DEFENCE POLICY IN SOUTH ATLANTIC: COUNTERING PIRACY IN THE GULF OF GUINEA (2012 – 2017)

Abstract

Title: Brazil’s Defence Policy in South Atlantic: Countering Piracy in The Gulf of Guinea (2012 – 2017) The increasing instances of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea came right after the decline of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the coast of the Horn of Africa. It has wreaked havoc in the off – shore platforms and ships docking in the ports in the Gulf of Guinea. The International Chamber of Commerce through its International Maritime Bureau has reported a significant increase of piracy during the course of 2012 through to 2017, and that is the reason why the timeline of this thesis took the same timeline. Despite fluctuative, but the amount of piracy posed a constant threat to economic activities in the region and has caught the attention of international communities. States were called together to address this challenge of piracy. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) addressed this issue within its UNSC Resolution 2018 in 2011. The content of the resolution is that the threat of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has emerged and should be dealt with properly to maintain law and order in the region, especially to states who have many ships flying its flag in the region. Perceiving the threat, and answering the call of UNSC, Brazil as the largest state in the South Atlantic, assumed its role and stepped up its cooperation bilaterally or multilaterally to address the challenge that emerged from the piracy in the region. It is in the hope of Brazilian government that the instances should not spread further as it could disrupt the Atlantic Throat trade route as the pirates of the Horn of Africa did to the Indian Ocean trade routes. This thesis will examine the Brazil’s Defence Policy in the South Atlantic, to counter the piracy problem in the Gulf of Guinea, as a measure by Brazil to securitize the region and ensure the safety of its national interests in the South Atlantic.