EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN / LAW OF THE SEA

International Progress Organization calls for the convening of a
Mediterranean Conference on Maritime Demarcation and Cooperation

Vienna (Austria), 20 January 2021
RE/20880c-is

Prior to the resumption of talks between Greece and Turkey on disputes over maritime jurisdiction, the International Progress Organization (I.P.O.) today renewed its call for the convening of a Mediterranean Conference on Maritime Demarcation and Cooperation that will bring together all regional states to deal with the legal, political and economic disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean in particular.

In a recently published position paper on “Kastellorizo: The Geopolitics of Maritime Boundaries and the Dysfunctionality of the Law of the Sea,” the I.P.O. examines the development of international law since President Truman’s “Proclamation on the Continental Shelf” shortly after World War II, analyzes the problems that result from the expansion of national jurisdictions over vast areas of the sea, and describes the conflictual constellation in the Eastern Mediterranean. The paper concludes that the law of the sea, and in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, does not provide an adequate framework for the resolution of disputes. The paper states that “a sustainable régime of maritime zones in the Eastern Mediterranean can only be achieved in a wider regional context” and suggests that “a comprehensive format of cooperation could go beyond mere demarcation of boundaries and include agreements on the co-sharing of resources in areas of overlapping jurisdictional claims.”