Maritime Security in West Africa: Transnational Organised Crime at Sea

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The Gulf of Guinea region is widely regarded as a trading hub for both inland and coastal African countries while serving as an international corridor for energy resources. The region’s importance has made it a hotspot for what is termed ‘blue crime’—criminal activities in the maritime domain, also referred to as Transnational Organized Crime at Sea (TOC).

Blue crimes include piracy, robbery of ships at sea, illegal oil bunkering, kidnapping for ransom, and trafficking people, narcotics, and weapons, which inhibit maritime security and institutional resilience. The United Nations recognized this potentially devastating insecurity when it held its first conference on transnational organized crime in February 2019. However, Bueger and Edmunds (2020) note that the meeting was inconclusive due to debates about what should be categorized as TOC and therefore ascribed a systematic review of these categories. At its May 2025 briefing (video), the UN Secretary-General reiterated the growing dangers facing the Gulf of Guinea’s security, highlighting the urgent need for integrated responses. 

UNDERSTANDING BLUE CRIME THROUGH THREE-CATEGORY ANALYSIS. 

In Bueger and Edmunds’ (2020) conceptualization of blue crime, each classification was determined by the intensity of their cascading effects and the nature of harm they inflict. This framework provides a clear understanding of maritime insecurity, especially in the Gulf of Guinea region:

1. Crimes against mobility. 

These crimes occur on the sea and through maritime infrastructure, such as ships and port systems, that threaten the movement of vessels, cargo, and personnel. They include: 

• Piracy and armed robbery: Seizure of vessels and attacks on ships and crewmembers. 
• Kidnapping for ransom: Abduction of crewmembers and hijacking of vessels for monetary payments. 
• Stowaway: Unauthorized boarding of vessels to evade passage fares or engage in illegal activities. 
• Cyberattacks: A nascent threat targeting port infrastructure and vessel navigation systems.

Impact: This category of crimes impacts maritime supply chain systems, disrupts port systems, undermines coastal economies and drives up insurance costs for maritime trade. Between 2020 and 2021, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea accounted for 43% of global kidnappings for ransom (IMB, 2021).

2. Criminal flow. 

This categorization of blue crimes occurs across the sea, i.e., the sea is the medium of transport for criminal activities rather than the location of the crimes themselves. The maritime sector becomes a pathway for the following: 

• Human trafficking: Smuggling migrants and moving victims across borders. 
• Arms trafficking: Transporting illegal weapons to fuel regional disputes. 
• Wildlife trafficking: Illegally moving endangered marine and terrestrial species. 
• Narcotics trafficking: Transiting illicit drugs across West African waters. 
• Illicit goods trading: Moving contraband and untaxed commodities across borders.

Impact: Criminal flows affect national economies through revenue losses, threaten national security by providing arms to non-state actors, compromise public health through contraband movement, violate human rights, and accelerate environmental degradation through wildlife exploitation. 

3. Environmental harm. 

Environmental harm is attributed to activities that occur in the sea and marine ecosystem. They include: 

• Marine Pollution: Oil spills, plastic waste, inland pollution, chemical contamination and ballast disposal. 
• Illegal resource extraction: Unregulated fishing and chemical contamination. Crimes against critical infrastructure: Attacks on offshore oil platforms and undersea cables. 
• Crimes against cultural heritage: Damage to coastal archaeological sites. 

Impact: Environmental harm destabilizes marine biodiversity, undermines coastal livelihoods, and threatens food security and the long-term economic sustainability of maritime resources. Inland river pollution from illegal mining activities that flows into the Gulf of Guinea illustrates how marine pollution occurs. 

Institutional Frameworks. 

A significant challenge in the maritime domain is that many countries lack adequate legislation to address crimes at sea. It’s a given that regulations and legislations are ascribed in a combination of national laws, bilateral agreements, customary laws, and international conventions. In West Africa’s maritime domain, they include the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, 1982), the Palermo Convention(2000), the Yaoundé Code of Conduct (2013), and the African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety Development (Lomé Charter, 2016). Despite this array of international and domestic legislation regimes, operationalizing these commitments has enabled gaps that have allowed blue crimes to thrive.

Challenges and the Way Forward. 

Maritime security requires varying degrees of cooperation and analysis to ensure adaptability in response to the changing threats. The Gulf of Guinea’s security reflects widespread governance challenges: institutional disputes across the 18 countries, limited enforcement capacity due to inadequate resources, competing jurisdictional claims, and economic pressures that force communities to turn to illegal activities. 

Addressing blue crime requires integrated systems that combine naval enforcement with economic development, strengthen regional cooperation frameworks, and operationalize international obligations through domestic legislation to address the root causes of maritime criminality, including poverty, corruption, and weak governance. 

As the United Nations continues to emphasize the growing threats, the question remains: how are regional states translating international regulations to yield actionable outcomes? Will the Gulf of Guinea remain a hotspot for blue crime that affects regional stability?