May 20, 2025
Thank you, Mr. President.
I would like to thank Greece for taking the initiative to organize this meeting on maritime security, and of course, I welcome your presence, Mr. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, as well as Mr. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetetris. I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his statement, as well as Ms. Melina Travlos and Mr. Christian Bueger for their own briefings.
Firstly, the security of maritime areas involves above all respect for international law.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines the legal framework covering all maritime activities. France reiterates its attachment to freedom of navigation in respect for international obligations. Without respect for common norms, the seas and oceans would simply become a theater of permanent confrontation. The Security Council has a responsibility to ensure the respect of the law of the sea and the peaceful settlement of disputes, in accordance with Article 36 of the United Nations Charter.
France reiterates its support for the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which plays an essential role in establishing high common standards in the area of maritime safety and in preventing and combating marine pollution.
France recalls its European commitment to the application of international law and its norms and to promote an autonomous assessment of the maritime situation within the framework of the European Union Maritime Security Strategy, adopted under the Greek Presidency in 2014.
However, secondly, the maritime space is the theater of transnational threats to which we have to provide a collective and coordinated response.
The hindrances to freedom of navigation constitute a serious security threat. Off the coast of Yemen, the Houthis, supported by Iran, must stop their destabilizing activities and their violations of the arms embargo. In Resolution 2722 in 2024, this Council recalled the right of Member States have, in accordance with international law, to defend their ships against these attacks. Criminal groups violate maritime security in order to get involved in other trafficking activities, particularly trafficking in migrant, as we are seeing in the Mediterranean, and drug trafficking, particularly between Latin America and Europe.
Illicit transshipments are used to circumvent the sanctions regimes established by the Council in order to fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Security Council must remain vigilant in the face of the violations of its resolutions, and States must strengthen their efforts to surveil maritime traffic in order to respond to this threat as well as the one posed by phantom fleets.
Thirdly, France is committed to fighting maritime insecurity in many regions of the world.
In the Gulf of Guinea, France supports its African partners through cooperation on maritime situation assessment, on maritime security activities, and in combating illicit activities within the framework of the Yaoundé architecture. France supports the region through European initiatives, in particular the coordinated maritime presence in the Gulf of Guinea, and France is also committed at the national level through Operation Corymbe.
This effort to protect the oceans is also carried out in the northwestern Indian Ocean. France continues its strictly defensive action within the framework of the European Union’s CSDP operations, whether it be EUNAVFOR ASPIDES to ensure the freedom of navigation off the coast of Yemen, or EUNAVFOR ATALANTA to combat piracy and trafficking in the Gulf of Aden. In the Mediterranean, Operation IRINI is implementing the arms embargo off the coast of Libya and combatting trafficking of all kinds.
Respect for freedom of navigation is essential in all seas and oceans. In the Black Sea, it is necessary for food security and global supply chains. Since the launching of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, France has supported efforts to ensure the protection of merchant shipping and the export of grain through the Black Sea. In Asia, France remains concerned about the situation in the South China Sea, where freedom of the high seas cannot be called into question. France is opposed to any use of force or coercion and calls for a peaceful settlement of disputes.
Fourthly, maritime security also goes hand in hand with the protection of the marine environment and the fight against pollution and climate change.
France has endorsed the responsibility of protection of the ocean and sustainable management of resources. It is in this spirit that it has decided, together with Costa Rica, to host the third United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice next June. Significant progress is expected in Nice on decarbonizing maritime transport and fighting against plastic pollution. France calls upon all States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify rapidly the International Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas and Marine Biodiversity, the “BBNJ Agreement.”
France is concerned by recent requests for the issuance, outside the framework of the International Seabed Authority, of operating licences for the extraction of mineral resources on the high seas. This would constitute a violation of international law, in particular the principle that these resources belong to the common heritage of humanity.
In the face of these challenges, we need collective, resolute and coherent action to strengthen maritime security and protect our maritime spaces.
Thank you.