Greece challenges Libya declaration of 24 nm contiguous zone
In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Greece’s permanent representative to the organization, Evangelos Sekeris, says that Libya’s recent decision to declare a 24-nautical mile contiguous zone, extending beyond its 12-nautical mile territorial sea, violates international law in three key respects.
The letter, which is dated January 17th, says that first, the limits of the Libyan claimed contiguous zone to the north of the Gulf of Sirte are measured from a closing line across the mouth of the gulf which is not justifiable under the relevant customary international law rules as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The letter stresses that Greece has challenged since 1974 Libya’s claim to the Gulf of Sirte as “a unilateral act affecting basic principles of international law.”
Secondly, it is noted that the remaining limits of the claimed contiguous zone are measured from straight baselines established by Libya in 2005. “Since the coastline of Libya is neither deeply indented nor fringed with islands, such baselines are inappropriate and unlawful” under the same convention, the letter says.
The third violation, as outlined in the letter, concerns the demarcation of the eastern limit of Libya’s claimed contiguous zone, which is based on the Turkey-Libya maritime boundaries deal of 2019. As emphasized in the letter, this specific demarcation agreement has been “categorically rejected by Greece as being null and void and in blatant violation of the fundamental rules of international law of the sea, including the maritime entitlements of Greek islands in that area.”
“While reserving all its rights under international law,” the letter concludes, “Greece would like to reiterate that it remains strongly committed to resolving any delimitation issues with neighboring countries in the eastern Mediterranean by peaceful means, in good faith and in accordance with the rules of the law of the sea, as it has already done with Italy and Egypt.”
