The IMS Office of the Gender Advisor's (GENAD) December Deep Dive focused on the challenges to, and necessity of, integrating gender perspectives into maritime security operations. Key contemporary maritime security challenges are posed by illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, human trafficking, arms and drug trafficking, forced labour/slavery, human smuggling, piracy and climate change.

The GENAD Office was pleased to host an expert panel consisting of Dr. Ioannis Chapsos, Research Lead in maritime security at Coventry University's Centre for Peace and Security, Ms. Carrie Compton, former GENAD to the US Navy 6th Fleet, and NATO International Civilian Ms. Aysegul Binali, GENAD at Joint Force Command Norfolk (JFCNF).

Dr. Chapsos opened the discussion by challenging the tendency to see the maritime domain as a delimited space. The 'land-sea nexus' refers to the continuity between the land and maritime spaces, including security challenges and solutions. Although maritime crimes by definition occur at sea, they depend on land-based infrastructure and have collateral effects there. Even in this domain, gender considerations can be made by observing current trends. For example, while men represent the majority of victims and perpetrators of piracy, women are complicit through financing and participating in land-based operations, and others may be sexually exploited by such groups or face indirect impacts in communities where men have died at sea or are imprisoned. Paying attention to these facts enables a more gender-aware and complete picture of the maritime security domain.

JFCNF GENAD, Ms. Binali, outlined the relevance of NATO's overarching policies and framework for operationalizing gender perspectives in multidomain military operations, with particular emphasis on the maritime domain. She explained that GENADs and Gender Focal Points (GFPs), all of whom are key to advancing Women, Peace and Security (WPS) considerations through operations and missions, are deployed across all commands. Lastly, she noted that gender analysis using disaggregated data contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the human environment for maritime security, and it enables operational effectiveness along with coordination and liaison with Non-NATO Entities, such as the European Union.

Ms. Compton discussed how to build support for WPS programs, based on her experience working with partners across Europe and Africa. Incorporating WPS Lines of Effort into established military objectives helps to build consensus and demonstrate the operational necessity of gender perspectives. Ms. Compton also stressed the importance of challenging unconscious biases in the maritime domain. For example, in Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations, commanders should consider how ideas about who is a perpetrator of violence and who is a victim influence operational decisions.

Ms. Compton and Dr. Chapsos both highlighted the complexity of contemporary maritime security challenges, discussing Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing through a gender lens. While NATO is not the primary entity responsible for tackling unlawful activities, it represents an issue many allies and partners face and shares challenges with other contemporary maritime security threats. As fish stocks become depleted, fishing fleets may operate illegally in the Exclusive Economic Zones of other states, increasing competition over limited resources. Tracking perpetrators is made difficult by the use of AIS (Automatic Identification System) spoofing and false flags; tactics that are also used by the Russian shadow fleet. The collapse of fishing industries would greatly impact local populations' livelihoods. It is important to consider how men, women, boys and girls may all be differently affected by the same security challenge. For example, many women are employed in artisan fishing industries and would be disproportionately affected by a collapse in fish stocks, while men are more likely to be affected by illegal labour practices taking place on vessels engaged in IUU fishing.

Understanding the land-sea nexus and collecting sex and age-disaggregated data helps to build a more gender-aware picture of the maritime human environment and challenges the assumption of 'men at sea, women on land'. Due to the complexity of factors that create such security challenges, military force cannot resolve them alone. Alongside bolstering the integration of gender perspectives within maritime security operations through deploying GENADs and GFPs (Gender Focal Points), this Deep Dive highlighted the need to collaborate with local partners to build capacity and comprehensively address contemporary maritime security challenges.