Prisoner transfer agreements

To enable suspected pirates to be prosecuted regionally, the UK Government signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kenya for the transfer of pirates on 11 December 2008.

Work is ongoing within the International Community to ensure appropriate support is provided to Kenya and others for the processing of suspect pirates. For example, the European Commission and Australia working with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have developed judicial capacity building programmes to assist the Kenyan  authorities in receiving and processing apprehended piracy suspects.  The Kenyan Government has also signed transfer agreements with the EU and US.

The Government of the Seychelles signed a bilateral MOU with UK on 27 July 2009 to accept the handover of pirate suspects.  This is important as a direct response to the threat of Somali piracy to the Seychelles' economic interests, which include tourism and fisheries.

The UK Government is working with international partners to identify further countries which may be prepared to accept suspected pirates for prosecution.

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