Dubai: A family fund for the survivors and victims of piracy was on Tuesday announced by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPC) at the end of their two-day meeting ahead of the Fourth UAE Counter Piracy Conference in Dubai.

Members of the CGPCS, of which is an important partner, have pledged around Dh1 million initially to support the families of the victims who are still in captivity of the pirates as well as the survivors of the pirate attacks.

“All members of the Contact Group agreed to establish the fund and many have them pledged financial support already and we expect more pledges in the near future. The idea is to support the victims of piracy who return home traumatised and their families who go through a lot of agony when their family members are in captivity,” said Maciej Popowski, Chairman of CGPCS, speaking to the press following the two day deliberation of the group in Dubai.

Though, the threat of piracy has diminished drastically over the last couple of years, 37 seafarers are still in captivity of pirates, which is down from around 1,200 two years ago.

He added that piracy affects the lives of quite a large group of people from across the world, in more than one ways.

“The initiative will be managed by a British NGO and the fund will provide social, psychological and medical support to the victims as well as their families,” said Popowski.

According to data provided by CGPCS around 8,000 people have been affected by piracy over the last few years, of which around 5,000 were taken hostage and the rest were affected by it in some way.

Those affected includes piracy survivors, victims as well as their family members and of whom around 1,000 suffer from post-traumatic stress and other psychological, health and financial issues.

According to a member of CGPCS, who wished not to be named, most families who are affected by piracy suffer from poverty as their breadwinners are in captivity and the shipping companies don’t look after them.

“The victims of piracy as well as their families go through a lot of agony even after the hostages are released. When the hostages return home after months or years in captivity the see that their families are destroyed due to lack of support given to them by their employers and in many cases this breaks down the survivors further. We are trying to address this issue through this fund,” said a member of CGPCS.

The CGPCS also announced the establishment of a law enforcement network, the will comprise police officers , representatives of Interpol, Europol and others, who will come together and help strengthen the law enforcement agencies in Somalia.