Non-traditional Maritime Security Threats in the Indian Ocean Region

AbstractThe Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has emerged as the world's major energy and trade route. The IOR littorals are concerned about the vulnerabilities in the region due to various non-traditional maritime security threats such as piracy, maritime terrorism, climate change, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, illegal immigration, and smuggling of arms and drugs. This paper analyses various causes and the patterns of the above-mentioned challenges and examines the effects of these threats on the IOR littorals. The paper concludes that multilateral cooperation is essential to combat the non-traditional maritime threats. Notes1. A. Rabassa and Peter Chalk, “Non-Traditional Threats and Maritime Domain Awareness in the Tri-Border Area of South-East Asia: The Coast Watch System of the Philippines,” Santa Monica: The RAND National Defense Research Institute (2012).2. N. 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