Breakfast Briefing with Jakob Dideriksen

HDMS Esbern Snare in the Gulf of Guinea: Piracy, Self-Defence, and Lessons Identified

Abstract

In 2021, the Danish warship Esbern Snare deployed to the Gulf of Guinea on a counter-piracy mission. A few weeks into the mission, Esbern Snare engaged a group of suspected pirates, resulting in four dead people, one seriously wounded, and a court trial in Denmark. Many legal issues were debated in relation to the deployment, including the law of the sea, use of force in law enforcement operations, and questions related to transfer and prosecution of piracy suspects.

As desk officer in the Danish Ministry of Defence, Jakob Dideriksen was involved in the mission before, during, and after the deployment. Jakob will give a presentation on some of the issues that came up, including the legal mandate, and questions related to the lack of transfer agreements with states in the region, and what that meant for the overall military mission. 

About the Speaker

Jakob Dideriksen works as a legal adviser in the Danish Ministry of Defence. He was previously employed as a military legal adviser in the Danish armed forces, with several deployments, including with the Royal Danish Navy in counter-piracy missions off Somalia.

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See a list of all the International Law Breakfast Briefings for Spring 2023