Mitsotakis at the UN Security Council: Greece calls for a global maritime truce as attacks on shipping spread

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Thursday for a global maritime truce, telling the UN Security Council that targeting civilian commercial shipping is unacceptable. He spoke in New York as he chaired an open debate on emerging technologies and maritime security, one of the signature events of Greece’s October presidency of the Council.

According to Reuters, Mitsotakis said commercial vessels must be able to sail safely and freely during armed conflict. “Targeting civilian commercial shipping is completely unacceptable,” he said, as quoted by the agency. He argued that disruption to navigation raises shipping and insurance costs, adds uncertainty to global markets and in the end falls on consumers.

What the debate was about

The Security Council’s advance note for the meeting described the open debate, titled “Emerging Technologies and Maritime Security: Implications for Peace and Security”, as a look at the opportunities and risks that artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and cyber capabilities create for maritime operations, security and governance. The note listed three expected briefers: Martin Kimani, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations; the journalist and author Fareed Zakaria; and Michail Bletsas, Governor of Greece’s National Cybersecurity Authority.

UN News, in its preview, listed some of the background: the Council held its first thematic meeting on maritime security in August 2021, it has met on artificial intelligence seven times since July 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s first safety code for autonomous ships took effect on 1 July, and a new informal Council expert group on technology, peace and security is due to hold its first meeting in November. UN News also noted that cheap drones, autonomous vessels and cyberattacks are changing the threats to shipping lanes, and the tools available to counter them.

The Black Sea and the law of the sea

Reuters linked the call for a truce to a drone attack that sank a Greek-managed container ship off Bulgaria, the latest in a series of strikes on vessels in the western Black Sea this month. The agency said suspicion has fallen on Russia, while the Bulgarian government has been reluctant to assign blame. Geopolitiki has reported the sinking of the container ship in Black Sea: the Contship Jet sinks after a three-sea-drone strike off Bulgaria, all 18 crew rescued, as Turkey warns Russia and Ukraine.

Reuters also reported that Mitsotakis addressed the Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum, which Greece and Cyprus, together with three Arab states, have condemned. He said no bilateral arrangement can override the international law of the sea, which provides a framework for cooperation and peaceful dispute settlement, and warned: “We cannot allow our seas to become a jungle.”

Greece’s position on the memorandum rests on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, under which islands generate maritime zones, and on the fact that the 2019 Turkey-Libya text ignores the Greek islands lying between the two coasts. Our explainer The Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum explained sets out why Athens, Nicosia and the European Council consider it without legal effect on third states.

Greece’s presidency

The debate was the centrepiece of the Greek presidency’s programme in New York this week, where Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis also chaired Council meetings and met Secretary-General António Guterres, as covered in Gerapetritis in New York: he chairs two UN Security Council meetings, meets Guterres, and Mitsotakis presides over the maritime-security debate. Presidency debates produce no binding decision unless the Council adopts a text, and the sources read for this report did not mention a resolution or presidential statement.